Creighton was on the short end of Wednesday’s match against Nebraska (Juszyk / WBR)
The stage was set for an epic clash in primetime between two of top volleyball programs in the country on Wednesday night at the CHI Health Center Omaha.
On one side, you had Nebraska with its long, rich, sustained history of championship excellence. On the other, the Creighton Bluejays — a program that has drawn blood on several occasions against the best of the best, however, one that is still striving to break into that final tier.
In the stands were 11,279 spectators — the 12th-largest crowd to ever attend a regular season match in NCAA Volleyball history. What they witnessed was the old guard proving that it was not yet ready to concede its spot as the top team in a volleyball rich state.
Over three sets — the first and last of which being fairly lopsided — the undefeated 3rd-ranked Huskers (6-0) made one demoralizing defensive stand after another to beat 19th-ranked Creighton (6-1) in straight sets 25-14, 25-22, and 25-16.
“I thought Nebraska beat us tonight, particularly from the defensive side,” Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. “Neither team was exemplary offensively. I thought the stage rattled us. We were far more tentative and I think when you become tentative you become error-driven, and that’s, I think, clearly what happened to us tonight.
“But I thought Nebraska’s defense was the best we’ve seen. I know it’s early in the season, but they were really good defensively and that disrupted us.”
Norah Sis was doing her best to fly high for the Bluejays, $CLICK TO BUY$ (Juszyk / WBR)
Thanks in large part to their 69 digs as a team, Nebraska held Creighton to 28 kills (their lowest total in that department since 2017) and an .053 attack percentage (their worst mark since 2011). Creighton’s pin power hitters, Jaela Zimmerman and Norah Sis, combined to hit -.013 on 80 swings. They entered the match .211 and .283, respectively.
“That’s how you have to beat that team,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said. “You can’t let those two go off. It was a left side slugfest against our block and defense, and we won more than they did and that was the difference in the match.”
On its own side of the net the Jays played some salty defense of their own. They ended up with 59 digs and nine blocks to hold the Huskers to a season-low .177 hitting clip. Both teams made it hard on the other to terminate, which led to a lot of highlight-worthy plays — including a kick save early on by Jays junior outside hitter Keeley Davis. As those long rallies mounted up, though, it was often Nebraska breaking through to win the point.
“I thought we wore them down a little bit with our serve, block, and defense,” Cook said. “They had a hard time killing the ball. That’s the way we have to win games like this … I thought our players played really hard tonight and didn’t let balls hit the floor.”
See more photos from the match courtesy of WBR Photographer Ken Juszyk
Late serving run in second set helps Huskers put match on ice
Jaela Zimmerman helped get Creighton out to an early lead in the 2nd set $CLICK TO BUY$ (Juszyk / WBR)
Creighton jumped out to an early lead in set one, setting up what appeared to be a back and forth affair. But the Huskers broke a 7-7 tie with a 3-0 run that prompted Kirsten Bernthal Booth to her first timeout, then a 4-0 run at 13-10 that forced the Jays to burn their second en route to a commanding 25-14 win. In need of a response before intermission, the Jays got a pair of out of system kills from senior co-captain Jaela Zimmerman as they raced out to a 7-2 lead in set two.
Nebraska eventually caught up at 13-all, but Creighton won five of the next six points to pull back in front 18-14. A kill by reigning by senior middle blocker Kayla Caffey — the Big Ten’s reigning Defensive Player of the Week — cut it to 18-15 and sent sophomore defensive specialist Keonilei Akana back to serve. For Nebraska, it was the start of a 7-0 serving run. For Creighton, it was the beginning of the end of their hopes of knocking off the Huskers for the first time in the 18-match history of the series.
That late rally by the 5-time national champions was a snapshot of the other difference maker aside from their defense: serving. The Huskers ended the night five aces and just five errors from behind the line, and kept Creighton out of system for the majority of the match — as evidenced by the five different Bluejays recording at least two assists.
“Keonilei, Nicklin (Hames), and Lexi Rodriguez I thought put a ton of pressure on them,” Cook said. “At times our other servers did too. You go five aces, five errors — I mean that’s the best passing team since the start of the season of anybody we’ve played. I mean their numbers were astronomical from what we’re used to seeing coming into this match. Five aces, five errors to pressure them like that — again, our players took the challenge and really stepped up.”
Win the crowd and with it comes the momentum
Abby Bottemley trying to serve Creighton back into the match $CLICK TO BUY$ (Juszyk / WBR)
Senior libero Abby Bottomley was candid with reporters the day before the match in talking about the nerves that would accompany playing against a top five team in front of such a large crowd. Unofficially, it appeared to be about 55/45 split in favor of Nebraska fans among the 11,279 fans in attendance. Both fanbases provided the energy their respective teams would need to build momentum, but as the Huskers were getting the best of many of those long rallies that volleyball fans feed off of, they were able to harness the energy in the arena and use it to their benefit.
On the flip side, it also had an impact on the Creighton’s aggressiveness.
“I think they were more aggressive than us at times,” Zimmerman said. “We were timid and held back and that allowed them to play free.
“We had never played in front of a crowd like that and they have that crowd every home game. We’re young and have two freshmen who have big roles. I think that played a role, not playing in front of big crowd like that (before).”
Quick turnaround doesn’t afford Jays time to dwell on loss
With the Bluejay Invitational getting underway on Friday morning, Creighton won’t be spending much time toiling over what if scenarios from Wednesday night’s loss. The Jays will host SMU at D.J. Sokol Arena at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, then will turn around for a double dip on Saturday beginning with Illinois at 10:30 a.m. and ending with Nebraska-Omaha at 7:30 p.m.
The challenge ahead of them is as mental as it is physical: wipe the loss as quickly as possible and don’t let Nebraska beat them twice.
“Even if we had won we would have had to move on right away in the same amount of time,” Zimmerman said. “I think you just really have to focus on the next game. Those are honestly bigger games for us because Nebraska is an RPI builder, not a killer. These games (this weekend) are super important and I think our team does a really good job of moving on. We’ll be fine.”