Keeley Davis turned it on for the Bluejays in the victory (Juszyk / WBR)
The last three meetings between Creighton and Iowa State haven’t been flattering for fans of gaudy offensive numbers. Keeley Davis changed that on Friday night in Minneapolis. In a rematch of the 2010 postseason tussle in the same city, the redshirt freshman outside hitter and newly crowned Big East Freshman of the Year tallied 15 kills on just 29 swings for the Bluejays in a 3-0 sweep of the Cyclones in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Though she only got halfway to the near-program record 31 kills she posted earlier this season at Marquette, she was just as potent on this night. And so was Creighton. After hitting just .210 as a team in six matches since losing junior outside hitter Erica Kostelac and her 2.86 kills per set on .261 hitting to a knee injury at Georgetown, the Bluejays posted a .366 attack percentage against an Iowa State club that had only allowed four teams — #1 Baylor, #2 Texas, #11 Penn State, and Iowa — to hit .300 against them all season. Efficiency and balance were on display throughout for CU — sophomore Jaela Zimmerman joined Davis in double figures with 10 kills, sophomore Annika Welty needed just 14 swings to post a career-high nine kills, junior Naomi Hickman finished with five on nine swings, and seniors Megan Ballenger and Madelyn Cole combined for seven kills on 13 total attacks.
“I’m very confident in my hitters,” Cole said. “We have great defenders and passers so I know if I have a great ball that I can distribute it to really any one of my hitters. I think the confidence that I have in them shows them that they can put the ball down whenever I give it to them.”
It’s typically a rock fight whenever Creighton and Iowa State meet in volleyball, and the first set was trending to be no different as the Cyclones hit .206 as a team while the Bluejays ended up at .188. The difference in game one were Davis and Welty. Davis had five kills on her 11 swings, while Welty found the floor four times in six chances, including on the the set-clincher to give CU a 25-22 win and a 1-0 match lead. Each team had four unforced hitting errors, but Iowa State’s five service errors were costly as Creighton was +4 from behind the line with a pair of aces and just three errors.
Iowa State came out firing to start the second set, moving in front 5-1 after kills by Michal Schuler and Annie Hatch. It was all Bluejays after that as they outscored the Cyclones 24-10 to win it 25-15 and take a 2-0 match lead into the locker room. Creighton committed just one attack error on 30 swings and out-hit the Cyclones .467 to .132 in game two. After Iowa State’s hot start, Creighton rattled off an 8-2 run capped off by a pair of kills by Ballenger sandwiched around a combo block between her and Davis. That forced the Cyclones to burn their first timeout of the set.
Jaela Zimmerman and Brittany Witt did their part on Friday night (Juszyk / WBR)
Jaela Zimmerman didn’t let Iowa State off the hook after the timeout. She served up an ace to make it 10-7, then another to make it 12-7 after a kill by Davis. A termination by Ballenger on the following point extended the run to 12-2 and the lead to 13-7, which prompted the Cyclones to use their last timeout to stop the bleeding. It didn’t work. Creighton’s lead grew to 17-10 and they cruised into the break with a 2-0 match lead.
The foot stayed on the gas in the third set. Two kills by Davis. Two kills by Zimmerman. Two aces by senior libero Brittany Witt. It was 7-2, Bluejays, and Iowa State was back in their team huddle after calling another early timeout to stop a big serving run. The Cyclones eventually trimmed Creighton’s lead down to two points, but another run serving run for CU led by Cole and Davis moved it back to seven at 17-10. They ended the night +7 from the service line thanks to seven aces and just six errors versus two aces and eight errors for Iowa State.
“That was the key. That was the number one thing,” Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “Iowa State is a little bit similar to us in that they kind of hang their hat on offensive parity, too. They can distribute to any of their hitters, and so taking them out of that — just like taking us out of that — really disrupts them quite a bit. I thought not only did we serve aggressively, but we were pretty clean with a 7-to-6 ratio of aces-to-errors. Rarely do you hit that even number, so to be above it is really, really good. Especially against a good passing team.”
Along with her match-high 15 kills, Davis also added eight digs and two blocks on the defensive side of things. Entering the final home weekend of the season, the 6-foot-1 outside from Highlands Ranch, Colorado had never finished a match with more than seven digs. Since then she’s recorded nine against Marquette, 11 against DePaul, and a career-high 13 against St. John’s prior to her performance on Friday night against the Cyclones.
“I thought she did a good job front and back row, and that is something that has been a focal point,” Booth said. “She’s carrying a lot of load for us right now. I have to guess that they were locked in to trying to shut her down. Sometimes it takes you a second to get used to how big the block is and I thought she settled in. Then we were able to get her some holes and that’s when she can be really special.”
Creighton improved 25-5 with the win and they’ll face a much stiffer test along with a more hostile environment in the pursuit of win No. 26 as #7 seed Minnesota swept Fairfield without too much resistance in their opening round match in the nightcap. The Bluejays and Golden Gophers will play for a trip to the Sweet 16 at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night. The match will be televised on Big Ten Network.