Less than 24 hours after making quick work of NC State in Friday night’s season-opener, Creighton turned the page to a strong and potent Missouri squad on the second day of the 2024 Bluejay Invitational. Once again, it took CU barely over 90 minutes to take care of business, taking out the Tigers to the tune of a 25-21, 25-23, 25-18 sweep in front of 2,337 fans at D.J. Sokol Arena.
Against NC State, the trio comprised of middle blockers Kiara Reinhardt and Elise Goetzinger and opposite hitter Jaya Johnson pace the offensive attack. Saturday, All-American outside hitters Norah Sis and Ava Martin got it going to set the tone and stayed in rhythm throughout the match.
Sis hit .556 with 6 kills in the first on her to finishing with a team-high 13 terminations and a .375 attack percentage. Martin was 4-for-10 with no errors in the first and ended her night with 12 kills on 30 error-free swings. Senior setter Kendra Wait’s 36 assists and 10 digs helped her set a D.J. Sokol Arena record with her 23rd career double-double at home. After keeping the middles involved on Friday, Wait saw her outsides had it going early and kept letting them do their thing when they opportunities presented themselves.
“I just do what the ball gives me at different times,” Wait said. “Tonight, that led to more outside sets, and I could tell that both Ava and Norah were going for it. They were the hot hands. I was just riding the hot hand while also just knowing if we had the right ball that I could still distribute when I had Elise and Kiara and Jaya that were always ready to go also, so that it wasn’t one dimensional.”
Sis’ six kills paced the Jays to a .452 attack percentage in a 25-21 set one win. The second set was tighter throughout, featuring 14 ties and seven lead changes. Then Martin took over down the stretch. With the set tied at 21-21 late, Martin had kills on back-to-back rallies to force Missouri to burn its first timeout, then another kill on the first rally out of it to force them to use their second.
Martin credited her new libero, Penn State transfer Maddy Bilinovic, with instilling the confidence in her to take the aggressive swings that ultimately helped Creighton seal a 25-23 win to give them a 2-0 match lead.
“I feel like this year in the back row we have a new kind of fiery mindset about our team,” Martin said. “It was just really pumping me up. Maddy would keep coming up and telling me to go for a big swing, we’re covering you. I just felt really confident take a big rip, because I knew if I got blocked that they were there behind me.”
As was the case on Friday night against the Wolfpack, Creighton slammed their baby blue Nikes on the gas pedal to start the third set against the Tigers, rolling out to a 13-5 lead and never looking back. They sided-out at 85% in set three against NC State. In game three on Saturday, that side out percentage ended up at 84%.
Clean, efficient, definitive.
“I think some of it is you’re up 2-0,” Booth said of the level her team has operated at in third sets through the first two matches.
“You’re confident and maybe they’re teetering. But I do think it’s about making sure that you respect everybody. Sometimes teams can come too loose, like kind of giddy and goofy that ‘we’re up 2-0, we got this,’ and that’s when struggle can happen. I think this team is mature enough to know that we can reverse sweep people, and we can get reverse swept if we’re not prepared, so I think they did a good job being focused and ready to go from the get-go.”
The next challenge is an 0-2 Drake team and a chance to atone for an opening weekend mistake last season. Last fall, Creighton swept Loyola Chicago and Purdue to open the season, then dropped a 5-setter against a winless Duke team that left them heading back to the practice gym with a sour taste in their mouth despite winning the tournament.
That Duke loss was on Ava Martin’s mind in the locker room after beating Missouri.
“We were talking in the locker room about how we need to bring it tomorrow,” Martin said. “We can’t overlook them. My mind just went to last year and how that can’t happen. I don’t know it just not, like, pissed me off, but we’re not letting that happen this year.”
First serve between the 2-0 Bluejays and the 0-2 Bulldogs at D.J. Sokol Arena on Sunday is tentatively set for 2:30 p.m. after the conclusion of Missouri vs. NC State.