It took five sets and just over two and a half hours, but Brian Rosen finally got to celebrate his first win as Creighton’s head coach on Sunday night. The 12th-ranked Bluejays did it by taking down No. 14 Kansas in five sets in the last match of the Opening Spike Classic in Madison, Wisconsin. Creighton won the first two sets 25-17 and 25-21, then dropped the third and fourth 25-21 and 27-25. They had match point at 25-24 in the fourth, but they gave up a 3-0 run to let it slip away. Kansas kept the momentum going in the fifth set at first, but Creighton used a 9-0 run to take control before eventually winning 15-12 to improve to 1-2 on the season.
“It’s like getting the monkey [off the back],” Rosen said of the first win of his D1 head coaching career. “I know the kinds of teams that we’re playing right now and understood that [going] undefeated is never the goal. We go into every single match hoping to win that one, but [going] 30-0 isn’t the goal. I love the fight that we’ve shown so far this season. I loved it again today. We had to show a lot of scrap and a lot of resilience. Yes, getting the first win is great, but getting to do it against a team as good as Kansas, that makes it even better.”
“We just talked as a team that that’s the kind of win and that’s the kind of match that puts you in a place to possibly host first weekends when it comes to November/December.”
Creighton played stretches of good volleyball in their first two matches of the season against No. 2 Penn State and No. 5 Texas. The results at the end of the day were the same for both, though — an 0-6 set record and two losses to start off the year. The mood of the team was still upbeat and optimistic after falling to the Nittany Lions. It was a different story after the loss to the Longhorns on Friday night.
“Losing twice in a row and getting swept twice is not a good feeling, so we were obviously frustrated,” junior middle blocker Eloise Brandewie said. “But I think in the locker room yesterday, we said we needed to come together as a team. It was really individual those first two games, and I think we [came together] today. We focused on one point at a time, and we limited runs. That was a huge difference-maker for us.”
Ava Martin has been consistent in each of the Jays matches so far (Williams / WBR)
Outside hitters Ava Martin and Destiny Ndam-Simpson, and middle blocker Kiara Reinhardt all ended the match with double figure kill counts for Creighton. Martin led the way with a match-high 17 kills. Ndam-Simpson finished with 13, while Reinhardt added 11 on .364 hitting. Brandewie was just shy of joining that group with nine kills on .350 hitting, but she produced a career-high nine blocks to help the Bluejays outblock Kansas 14-8.
Sophomore opposite hitter Jaya Johnson was a big in that effort as well with eight kills and four blocks to aid in limiting the left side of Kansas’ attack to 4.6 kills per set and just .094 hitting.
“We have great size, and we also just have really smart blockers,” Rosen said. “Jaya is so physical, but I think she makes moves at the right times, whether it’s one on one or she knows she has help. [Eloise] same thing. She does a really nice job just diving into space. She’s so balanced all the time. I think she makes great touches even when she doesn’t get blocks. And Kiara has just always been such a great blocker. I love seeing her get to be an offensive weapon and a blocker all together.
“I just think we have a great unit. Destiny also did such a good job against a really good right side today. I don’t know what her stats were at the end of the game, but I know that Dez did a really nice job limiting her, and she’s pretty special.”
Saige Damrow anchored the Bluejay defense on Sunday (Williams / WBR)
Sophomore libero Saige Damrow and junior defensive specialist Sydney Breissinger anchored most of the court defensively. Playing behind Creighton’s formidable block, Damrow tallied a match-high 20 digs, finishing one off of tying her career-high in that department. Breissinger joined her double figures with a season-high 13 digs.
“We’re such a scrappy team,” Damrow said. “And it comes from our blocking. We are getting such good touches, so we’re able to run down balls that not many teams would. And honestly, me and Syd back there together, I think we’re just such a powerful force. Even our middle backs, everyone. Everyone is working so well together. Even if one ball drops, we’re like that’ll never happen again. I’m just really proud of our defense.”
Despite the loss on Friday, the Bluejays still held fifth-ranked Texas to a .186 attack percentage. In Sunday’s win, Creighton held a Kansas offense that had already played a combined 10 sets against No. 2 Penn State and No. 8 Wisconsin to a season-low .130 hitting. It’s no secret that the Jays is trying to replace a significant portion of its offensive production from a season ago. While that phase of the game comes together, Brian Rosen believes that the type of defense he saw this weekend can carry Creighton throughout the season.
“We’ve said it since preseason that we think like our defense needs to be the strength of our team,” Rosen said. “I think we can get better offensively, but right now we really need to lean in on how good we are on defense.
“We need to continue to do a better job of turning those dig and block touch opportunities into points. Once we do that a little bit better, I think this team can be special good.”