Norah Sis took home MVP honors this weekend. (Spomer / WBR)
Ava Martin tied her career-high in kills, Kendra Wait nearly put up the first triple-double by a Bluejay in six years, and Norah Sis came through in the clutch time and time again to take home Most Valuable Player of the 2023 Bluejay Invitational as the 20th-ranked Bluejays took down Northern Iowa in four exhilarating sets to claim the tournament title at D.J. Sokol Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Creighton dropped an epic second set 36-34 after taking a 1-0 match lead with a 25-21 win in the first set, then bounced back after intermission to close out the Panthers 25-20 in game three and 25-23 in game four to improve to 5-1 on the season ahead of their in-state rivalry matchup with undefeated and 4th-ranked Nebraska on Wednesday night in Lincoln.
“Northern Iowa is a really difficult team to play,” Jays head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “They are kind of the antithesis of LSU. They just make you earn points multiple times; they’re so scrappy. I loved that we were able to respond after a really, really tough, good set two. Kudos to Northern Iowa. I think this is going to be a good win for us hopefully.”
Sophomore outside hitter Ava Martin continued her torrid start her second season of Division 1 volleyball with five kills on nine swings in the first set to help the Bluejays close out a 25-21 win. CU outhit UNI .265 to .182. True freshman defensive specialist Sydney Breissinger was key during a 5-point serving run — that included back-to-back aces — during a 6-0 run that broke an 8-8 tie early in the set. The Panthers pulled within two late, but a service error and a kill by sophomore middle blocker Ann Marie Remmes put the comeback hopes to bed.
The second set might have surpassed the match-clinching epic third set from Saturday night against LSU. The Jays pulled that one out 32-30, rallying from an 18-10 deficit to finish of the sweep of the Tigers. Although Creighton was on the wrong of the ledger in second set against Northern Iowa, the tension and drama was on the same level. Each team saved six set points and it lasted 45 minutes on its own before three unanswered kills by 5th-year senior outside hitter Emily Holterhaus gave it to UNI to send both teams to the locker tied 1-1.
Creighton seized control of the match late in a set three, using a 7-0 run at end game to take it 25-20. Senior libero Ellie Bolton was nails from the service line. She got Northern Iowa out of system with a variety pack of serves that allowed the Bluejays to get three ace blocks on the final five rallies to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Bolton also came up with a full extension, one-handed dig in front of the scorer’s table that led to a kill for Martin during the deciding run.
“[Ellie] was the difference between [sets] two and three,” Booth said. “We missed some end game serves [in set two] that were pretty critical … what Ellie did was she made them earn their way out. We talk a lot about that, and she did it repetitively. Good aggressive serves and she moved the ball around. That run was the key to the game, no question. Her not letting them off the hook even three points [into the run] was huge.”
The fourth set was back and forth from the onset like the three games before it, then Creighton opened up a late lead with a 5-0 run to break a 16-16 tie. UNI made a late push but couldn’t full climb the hill as the Jays secured the 25-23 win to finish off the match. Martin went to another level after intermission with 11 kills and 0 errors on 23 swings between sets three and four after Creighton dropped the 36-34 heartbreaker in set two.
“I think it really fired us up,” Martin said of dropping the second set. “It was so intense that you go into that next set with that fire-y feeling that we are going to take care of this [set], this one is ours. It motivated us and got us excited to go take care of business in the next set.”
Martin ended up tying her career-high with 22 kills. She finished her afternoon with a .396 attack percentage after committing just three errors on her 48 attempts. Junior setter Kendra Wait had her fingerprints all over the match with 42 assists and season-highs in digs (22), kills (7), and blocks (5). Her classmate and favorite target, outside hitter Norah Sis, ended up with 16 kills, 16 digs, and 2 blocks to earn MVP of the tournament. The pin hitter out of Papillion, Nebraska averaged 4.08 kills and 3.33 digs per set in wins against Ball State, LSU, and Northern Iowa over the 3-day weekend.
Next up on the schedule is a date with in-state rival Nebraska. The Jays will head to Lincoln on Wednesday to take on the 4th-ranked Huskers in their own gym. It’ll be the second of three true road matches in a Big Ten during the non-conference portion of the season. Creighton won the first leg by sweeping No. 25 Purdue in West Lafayette last weekend, but the Jays know the Devaney Center is going to be a different beast.
“Their gym compared to Purdue’s is going to be a bit more of a challenge for us,” Martin said. “It’s going to be a lot louder and a lot more red. It’s really important for us to walk in with confidence, because we are good. We just need to play Creighton Volleyball. It’ll be huge for us to come in and play with confidence because it’s going to be intimidating. Playing at Nebraska is scary, so we need to go in, be confident, and just play our game.”
The Huskers (5-0) and Bluejays (5-1) will serve things up at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 6. The 20th all-time meeting between Creighton and Nebraska will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.