Any concerns by Creighton’s coaching staff that their players might be looking ahead to a much-anticipated Big East showdown at St. John’s were put to rest on Friday night. The Bluejays, who entered the weekend ranked 11th in the official RPI, stormed into Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, New Jersey and rode another highly efficient offensive performance to a 25-17, 25-18, 25-21 sweep over the Pirates.
Junior outside hitter Norah Sis led all players with 16 kills on .414 hitting. Grad transfer Ellie Bichelmeyer added 10 kills, senior middle blocker Kiara Reinhardt and sophomore outside hitter Ava Martin each had nine, senior middle blocker Kiana Schmitt had eight on 10 swings, and junior setter Kendra Wait put the ball down five times herself to go along with 46 assists, six digs, and a block. The rounded out an offense that finished the night with a .465 attack percentage — the eighth-best in program history — to lead Creighton to its 10th straight sweep (a new program record). The Pirates were coming in having won five of their last six matches, including a sweep of St. John’s that turned the Big East regular season title race into a two-team affair between the Jays and Marquette for the moment, but outhit them .586 to .333 in set one, .548 to .270 in set two, and .317 to .206 in set three to improve to 13-2 in conference play and 22-4 overall with three matches left in the regular season.
“I think [Seton Hall’s sweep of St. John’s on Wednesday] was a wake-up call for everybody not to look ahead,” Jays head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “Seton Hall is playing well. I think the players did a really nice job of respecting them. I thought we came in ready to compete. I was impressed with the maturity of our team.”
Creighton scored 20 of their 25 points in game one and 18 of their 25 in game two on kills alone. Through the first two sets, CU was hitting .567 as a team, which would have been 31 percentage points higher than their best mark for a match in program history. Between Schmitt and Reinhardt alone, Creighton’s middles had 14 kills and no attack errors on 15 swings after the first two sets as the Pirates had no answer for them when they were in system.
“I think we are a little bit more physical than Seton Hall,” Booth said. “Kiara was kind of going high over that block and when Kiana gets in rhythm, she’s good. I don’t think there was any secret sauce. Usually if you are getting the ball to the middle that’s a pretty good pass. One on one those two are going to be pretty good against a lot of teams.”
In their past nine matches, Creighton has hit below .320 as a team just one time. They are averaging 15.70 kills per set with a .390 attack percentage over the last five weeks.
“The nice thing is if a team tries to scheme against people, we feel like we have other people who can step up,” Booth said. “We have five hitters, and even some hitters on the bench too, that all can put the ball down against high-level teams. That makes us difficult if we are in system. I thought Seton Hall got us out of system a fair amount. I still think we are decent out of system, but that has to continue to be the focal point. If Kendra has all three options, or all two options with her in the front row, we’re pretty tough to defend I think.”
The Bluejays close out the weekend at Carnesecca Arena in Queens tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. (CT) against what presumes to be an angry and desperate St. John’s team. The Red Storm have one match left in the regular season against both Creighton and Marquette, and trail both by just one game in the conference standings. They also entered the week ranked 45th in the RPI, giving them an outside chance at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament if they can snag a couple more quality wins down the stretch. On top of those uncontrollable circumstances, St. John’s also presents some physical challenges that the Jays did not have to deal with on Friday.
“St. John’s is a very different team than Seton Hall,” Booth said. “The things that they do well are different than what Seton Hall does well, so we’re going to need to flip things tomorrow. St. John’s will be licking their wounds and looking to kill, so we know we are going to be in for a battle against a really good team who plays well at home.”