#5 Texas Too Much For #12 Creighton Volleyball at Opening Serve Classic
MADISON, Texas -- No. 5 Texas swept No. 12 Creighton Volleyball on Friday night in Madison, Wis., at the Opening Serve Classic. The contest was a rematch of CU's Sweet 16 victory in four sets over the Longhorns in last year's NCAA Tournament.
Scores of tonight's contest in favor of Texas were 25-21, 25-19, 26-24.
Sixth-year senior Kiara Reinhardt returned to her home state with a Creighton-high nine kills on .529 hitting. She was one of six Bluejays with more at least five kills as setter Annalea Maeder dished 29 assists evenly. Former Badger Saige Damrow returned to Madison and had a team-best 14 digs, while Eloise Brandewie owned a match-best seven blocks. Creighton had 37 kills, 45 digs, 12 blocks and four aces on .118 hitting.
Texas (1-0) was paced by 12 kills and 15 digs from Torey Stafford, who was making her debut in burnt orange after earning First Team All-America honors last year with Pittsburgh. The Longhorns had 42 kills, 49 digs, eight blocks and four aces while hitting .186.
Maeder and Brandewie opened the match with a block of Stafford, but the Longhorns would pull away down the stretch after the Bluejays closed to within 16-13. Five straight UT points on Stafford's serve gave the Longhorns their largest lead, as CU drew no closer than two (21-19) the rest of the frame. The teams combined for 39 digs and 10 blocks in the opener, including four stuffs by Reinhardt.
The Bluejays opened the second set by scoring six of the initial 10 points, but Anja Kujundzic served a 7-0 run that featured four Creighton (0-2) attack errors. Just as it did in the opening frame, Creighton drew within 21-19 before the Longhorns scored the final four points. Stafford had five kills and six digs for Texas in the second game.
Creighton's best set of the night was the finale, when it rolled to a 6-2 lead after the first ace of the season from sophomore Alivia Hausmann. Creighton remained in front at 16-11, but Kujundzic started a 6-0 serving run with a pair of aces and CU would not lead again. Down 23-21, Ava Martin and Reinhardt put down kills to knot the score at 23-all. CU withstood one match point on another Reinhardt putaway, tying the set at 24-all. The match ended when a CU serving error was followed by an ace by Taylor Harvey on the five-star freshman's first career attempt behind the service line. Reinhardt had five kills in as many swings in the final set and Damrow added five digs.
Creighton returns to the floor on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. when it plays the first of two non-conference battles this season with No. 14 Kansas (1-2). The Jayhawks lost in five sets against Wisconsin in the first match of the Opening Serve Classic.