#11 Creighton Volleyball Survives Scare To Win NCAA Opener, 3-2 Over Nothern Colorado
OMAHA, Neb. -- No. 11 Creighton Volleyball was pushed to the brink but survived to win its 21st straight match on Thursday evening, opening up NCAA Tournament play with a 3-2 victory over Northern Colorado. Scores of the Bluejay triumph were 25-12, 23-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-8.
Creighton (26-5) earns itself a Second Round match-up against Northern Iowa (26-5) after the sixth-seeded Panthers finished off their first reverse sweep in the NCAA Tournament since 2022 with a 15-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-20, 15-10 win over Utah. Creighton defeated the Panthers at D.J. Sokol Arena on Sept. 14 to close out play at the Bluejay Invitational, but the Panthers are 22-0 since then.
Ava Martin tied a D.J. Sokol Arena record with a career-high 30 kills that matched the D.J. Sokol Arena record, including eight in the final set to extend her career. Jaya Johnson finished with 12 kills, six digs and five blocks. Reinhardt rounded out the Bluejays with double-figure kills with 10 while contributing a season-best nine blocks. Annalea Maeder closed the match with a double-double, delivering 53 assists and a career-high 21 digs. Breissinger also had a career-high with 20 digs. CU finished with 69 kills, 74 digs, five aces and a season-best 14.5 blocks while hitting .313. It was Creighton's 206th straight victory when hitting .300 or better.
Five women had multiple kills in the first set as Creighton powered past Northern Colorado, led by six kills from Martin. The senior from Overland Park, Kan., also had a pair of aces late in the set to solidify CU's 25-12 victory. The Jays hit .438 and had 17 kills to UNC's six kills on .000 hitting and never trailed in the frame.
UNC snapped Creighton's 17-set win streak with a 25-23 victory in the second set, which featured nine ties and five lead changes. Isabel Bennett had go-ahead kills to make it 23-22 and 24-23 and Alayna Tessena put down the winner on set point. Northern Colorado had 15 kills and 18 digs in the second set and held the Bluejays to 11 kills and .200 hitting. Martin had seven kills for CU in the second set, while Breissinger added six digs.
The Bears won the first three points of the third set and moved in front 8-4 to force an early timeout from CU head coach Brian Rosen. The stoppage did little to improve the fortunes for the hosts, who called another timeout six points later after falling behind 12-6 to the Big Sky Tournament champions. The second timeout did the trick, as the Bluejayscountered with an 8-2 burst to even the score at 14-all. Northern Colorado settled down, never surrendering the lead, and led 23-20 before one last push from the hosts. Martin pounded her 18th kill of the night, and Nora Wurtz followed with her 56th ace of the fall to cut CU's deficit to 23-22 and lead UNC coach Lyndsey Oates to call timeout. Martin slammed a cross-court kill to tie the score at 23-all, but UNC answered with a Zoe Gibbs kill for a set point opportunity. The Bears won the set on a Bluejay attack error that withstood a challenge review, 25-23.
The Bluejays got off to a 6-2 lead in the fourth set thanks in part to three early UNC hitting errors, then extended the advantage to 14-6. The Jays won the set 25-17, with freshman Abbey Hayes stepping up with a team-best four kills. CU had 4.5 blocks in the set, including one of set point from Reinhardt and Martin.
Creighton got off to a quick start in the fifth frame, scoring the first three points on two Martin kills and a UNC attack error. CU led 8-3 at the changeover and never trailed in the finale, putting down 14 kills to earn its 15 points. The Jays hit .519 in the last set.
Tessena led Northern Colorado with 14 kills, while Brynn Reines finished with 11 kills. The Bears had 52 kills, 73 digs, two blocks and four aces while hitting .145.
First serve of tomorrow's Second Round match is at 6:30 p.m. It will air on ESPN+.