Friday, August 30
Omaha, Neb.
6 PM
Creighton University
1-0,0-0Big East
3
vs
0
NC State
0-1,0-0ACC
1
2
3
F
NC State
18
20
13
0
Creighton
25
25
25
3
Elise Goetzinger
Photo by: Justin Kreutzian
#12 Volleyball Sweeps NC State in Season Opener
8/30/2024 8:08:00 PM | Volleyball
Jaya Johnson leads CU with 11 kills in her debut
OMAHA, Neb. -- Redshirt freshman Jaya Johnson had 11 kills on .526 hitting to lead No. 12 Creighton Volleyball to a 3-0 win over visiting NC State in the 2024 regular-season opener on Friday. Scores of the victory were 25-18, 25-20, 25-13. Creighton hit .385 in the victory and never trailed in the first or third set.
Playing in front of the third-largest D.J. Sokol Arena crowd in program history (2,569), the Bluejays raced to a 6-1 start in the opening set and never looked back. Senior Kiara Reinhardt had four kills and a block in the initial 11 points as the Jays lead grew to 9-2, and the margin stretched to 14-6 after a block by seniors Kendra Wait and Elise Goetzinger. Behind Reinhardt's five kills, and Wait's 10 assists and six digs, the Jays took the opener 25-18 on Wait's kill.
Creighton lost the first two points of the second set and did not move ahead until 10-9, but that would be the only time all night the Jays fell behind. Goetzinger had a pair of kills during a 3-0 surge to put CU in front 11-9. CU led 20-15 after a kill from Ava Martin and led by four or more the rest of the set. Johnson had six kills and four digs in the game as Wait dished 14 assists to five different teammates.
Creighton broke free from a 6-5 lead in the finale with a 6-0 run on Martin's serve. Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Norah Sis authored a 4-0 run behind the service line to expand the advantage to 19-10, and a solo stuff from Goetzinger closed out Creighton's 11th straight home sweep. Sis had six kills in seven swings during the final frame to pace a Bluejay offense that hit .696 with 16 kills in 23 swings, the sixth-best hitting percentage in a set in program history.
In addition to Johnson's 11 kills, Goetzinger had 10 kills and five blocks on .471 hitting in her Bluejay debut. Maddy Bilinovic played libero and had a team-high 10 digs in her Bluejay debut to spearhead a defense that held NC State to .134 hitting. Creighton hit .385 and had 49 kills, three aces, 39 digs and 7.0 blocks.
NC State was led by 11 kills from Amanda Rice, and libero Skye Stokes contributed a match-leading 11 digs. The Wolfpack had 32 kills, one ace, 37 digs and three blocks overall.
Creighton continues play in the Bluejay Invitational on Saturday at 5 p.m. when it hosts Missouri. Mizzou swept Drake (25-16, 25-14, 28-26) in the first match of the tournament on Friday.
NOTES: Creighton has now swept both matches against NC State, also sweeping the Wolfpack (25-19, 25-21, 25-22) on Aug. 31, 2018 in Dallas, Texas ... Creighton has won 35 straight sets at home, the nation's longest-active streak ... Creighton has now won 14 straight home matches, one shy of the program record set in 2018... NC State went 22-7 last year and finished with an RPI of 43. The Wolfpack were picked to finish eighth in the 18-team ACC this fall ... Creighton has won at least one match in every Bluejay Invitational, which is now in its 19th year ... Creighton has won 23 straight matches immediately following a loss since opening the 2019 season 0-2. That's the nation's longest active stretch without back-to-back losses ... Creighton has now won 15 straight matches after a five-set loss ... Creighton had not opened a non-COVID season at home since 2010 ... Maddy Bilinovic now owns 800 career digs ... Norah Sis and Kendra Wait both started their fourth straight season-opener ... Creighton improved to 21-10 in season-opening matches since restarting its program in 1994, and 17-5 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. That includes a 14-2 mark since 2010 with four straight victories.
Playing in front of the third-largest D.J. Sokol Arena crowd in program history (2,569), the Bluejays raced to a 6-1 start in the opening set and never looked back. Senior Kiara Reinhardt had four kills and a block in the initial 11 points as the Jays lead grew to 9-2, and the margin stretched to 14-6 after a block by seniors Kendra Wait and Elise Goetzinger. Behind Reinhardt's five kills, and Wait's 10 assists and six digs, the Jays took the opener 25-18 on Wait's kill.
Creighton lost the first two points of the second set and did not move ahead until 10-9, but that would be the only time all night the Jays fell behind. Goetzinger had a pair of kills during a 3-0 surge to put CU in front 11-9. CU led 20-15 after a kill from Ava Martin and led by four or more the rest of the set. Johnson had six kills and four digs in the game as Wait dished 14 assists to five different teammates.
Creighton broke free from a 6-5 lead in the finale with a 6-0 run on Martin's serve. Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Norah Sis authored a 4-0 run behind the service line to expand the advantage to 19-10, and a solo stuff from Goetzinger closed out Creighton's 11th straight home sweep. Sis had six kills in seven swings during the final frame to pace a Bluejay offense that hit .696 with 16 kills in 23 swings, the sixth-best hitting percentage in a set in program history.
In addition to Johnson's 11 kills, Goetzinger had 10 kills and five blocks on .471 hitting in her Bluejay debut. Maddy Bilinovic played libero and had a team-high 10 digs in her Bluejay debut to spearhead a defense that held NC State to .134 hitting. Creighton hit .385 and had 49 kills, three aces, 39 digs and 7.0 blocks.
NC State was led by 11 kills from Amanda Rice, and libero Skye Stokes contributed a match-leading 11 digs. The Wolfpack had 32 kills, one ace, 37 digs and three blocks overall.
Creighton continues play in the Bluejay Invitational on Saturday at 5 p.m. when it hosts Missouri. Mizzou swept Drake (25-16, 25-14, 28-26) in the first match of the tournament on Friday.
NOTES: Creighton has now swept both matches against NC State, also sweeping the Wolfpack (25-19, 25-21, 25-22) on Aug. 31, 2018 in Dallas, Texas ... Creighton has won 35 straight sets at home, the nation's longest-active streak ... Creighton has now won 14 straight home matches, one shy of the program record set in 2018... NC State went 22-7 last year and finished with an RPI of 43. The Wolfpack were picked to finish eighth in the 18-team ACC this fall ... Creighton has won at least one match in every Bluejay Invitational, which is now in its 19th year ... Creighton has won 23 straight matches immediately following a loss since opening the 2019 season 0-2. That's the nation's longest active stretch without back-to-back losses ... Creighton has now won 15 straight matches after a five-set loss ... Creighton had not opened a non-COVID season at home since 2010 ... Maddy Bilinovic now owns 800 career digs ... Norah Sis and Kendra Wait both started their fourth straight season-opener ... Creighton improved to 21-10 in season-opening matches since restarting its program in 1994, and 17-5 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. That includes a 14-2 mark since 2010 with four straight victories.
Team Stats
NCST
CU
Kills
32
49
Errors
19
9
Attempts
97
104
Hitting %
.134
.385
Points
36.0
59.0
Assists
32
44
Aces
1
3
Blocks
3.0
7.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
DS
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballCreighton Volleyball Media Availability September 9
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