Saturday, September 14
Louisville, Ky.
10 AM
Creighton University
7-1,0-0Big East
3
vs
0
Rice
4-2,0-0AAC
1
2
3
F
Creighton
25
25
25
3
Rice
16
21
12
0
Photo by: Joey Kurtz
#9 Volleyball Beats Rice; #4 Louisville Next
9/14/2024 11:33:00 AM | Volleyball
Ava Martin leads Creighton to 7-1 start.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The No. 9 Creighton Volleyball team prepped for Sunday's Top 10 showdown at No. 4 Louisville with a 3-0 victory over Rice on Saturday afternoon at the Cardinal Classic in Louisville, Ky. Scores of the Bluejay victory were 25-16, 25-21, 25-12.
Creighton (7-1) outblocked the preseason favorites in the American Athletic Conference by a 10-2 count, with Kiara Reinhardt having a hand in eight of those stuffs.
Creighton used Maddy Bilinovic's 6-0 serving run early in the match to take an 8-5 lead and maintained that pace to earn a 25-16 victory in the opener. The Jays hit .310 as Kendra Wait dished 13 assists spread across five teammates, and Reinhardt had three of CU's four blocks as the Jays held Rice to -.032 hitting. Cindy Tchouangwa had four of Rice's eight kills.
Rice (4-2) won a pair of challenges during a 7-0 run to build a 10-7 lead in the second set. CU regrouped to take a 15-13 lead on an ace by Sydney Breissinger that preceded the media timeout. Wait authored a 4-0 run at the service line to move the Jays in front 22-17, and Ava Martin's 12th kill clinched the set two win. Martin had nine kills in the second set and Sis six more as Creighton out-killed Rice 16-10. Rice was led defensively by Gaby Mansfield, who had six digs after moving to libero in place of standout defender Nia McCardell.
The third set was all Bluejays, including three straight aces from Sis to extend the lead to 18-8. Sis finished the day with a career-high five aces while also adding 14 kills and 12 digs. Creighton served six aces in the third set alone, and fittingly, won the match on a Rice service error.
Reinhardt matched her season-high with eight blocks. CU's most efficient attacker was Ava Martin, who had 14 kills and seven digs on .448 hitting, and Wait distributed 35 assists while also contributing nine digs. Creighton had 42 kills, nine aces, 51 digs and 10.0 blocks on .262 hitting.
Rice was paced by seven kills from Tchouangwa and 10 digs by Kaitlyn Knobbe and Darby Harris. The Owls had 24 kills, 40 digs, two blocks and five aces while hitting .060.
Creighton closes its stay in Louisville on Sunday at Noon Central with a top-10 showdown against No. 4 Louisville in a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal won by the Cardinals in five sets. The match will be nationally-televised on ESPN starting at Noon Central.
NOTES: Creighton is now 39-11 all-time in 50 matches on neutral floors as a ranked team ...Kendra Wait moved over 1,200 career digs and now owns 1,207 ... Ava Martin had her 50th straight match with five or more kills ... Creighton has now won 102 straight sets when owning a set point ... Rice is the 99th different school that Creighton has beaten under Kirsten Bernthal Booth ... Creighton has won 10 straight matches played on a Saturday, including a 3-0 record this fall ... Ava TeStrake made her first appearance of the season and had a pair of kills in the third set ... Creighton has won 85 straight matches when leading 2-0 ... Creighton owns 17 straight wins when owning more aces than service errors.
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Creighton (7-1) outblocked the preseason favorites in the American Athletic Conference by a 10-2 count, with Kiara Reinhardt having a hand in eight of those stuffs.
Creighton used Maddy Bilinovic's 6-0 serving run early in the match to take an 8-5 lead and maintained that pace to earn a 25-16 victory in the opener. The Jays hit .310 as Kendra Wait dished 13 assists spread across five teammates, and Reinhardt had three of CU's four blocks as the Jays held Rice to -.032 hitting. Cindy Tchouangwa had four of Rice's eight kills.
Rice (4-2) won a pair of challenges during a 7-0 run to build a 10-7 lead in the second set. CU regrouped to take a 15-13 lead on an ace by Sydney Breissinger that preceded the media timeout. Wait authored a 4-0 run at the service line to move the Jays in front 22-17, and Ava Martin's 12th kill clinched the set two win. Martin had nine kills in the second set and Sis six more as Creighton out-killed Rice 16-10. Rice was led defensively by Gaby Mansfield, who had six digs after moving to libero in place of standout defender Nia McCardell.
The third set was all Bluejays, including three straight aces from Sis to extend the lead to 18-8. Sis finished the day with a career-high five aces while also adding 14 kills and 12 digs. Creighton served six aces in the third set alone, and fittingly, won the match on a Rice service error.
Reinhardt matched her season-high with eight blocks. CU's most efficient attacker was Ava Martin, who had 14 kills and seven digs on .448 hitting, and Wait distributed 35 assists while also contributing nine digs. Creighton had 42 kills, nine aces, 51 digs and 10.0 blocks on .262 hitting.
Rice was paced by seven kills from Tchouangwa and 10 digs by Kaitlyn Knobbe and Darby Harris. The Owls had 24 kills, 40 digs, two blocks and five aces while hitting .060.
Creighton closes its stay in Louisville on Sunday at Noon Central with a top-10 showdown against No. 4 Louisville in a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal won by the Cardinals in five sets. The match will be nationally-televised on ESPN starting at Noon Central.
NOTES: Creighton is now 39-11 all-time in 50 matches on neutral floors as a ranked team ...Kendra Wait moved over 1,200 career digs and now owns 1,207 ... Ava Martin had her 50th straight match with five or more kills ... Creighton has now won 102 straight sets when owning a set point ... Rice is the 99th different school that Creighton has beaten under Kirsten Bernthal Booth ... Creighton has won 10 straight matches played on a Saturday, including a 3-0 record this fall ... Ava TeStrake made her first appearance of the season and had a pair of kills in the third set ... Creighton has won 85 straight matches when leading 2-0 ... Creighton owns 17 straight wins when owning more aces than service errors.
Rice ?#GoJays pic.twitter.com/HEWWhjITBa
— Creighton Volleyball (@CreightonVB) September 14, 2024
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Team Stats
CU
Rice
Kills
42
24
Errors
15
18
Attempts
103
100
Hitting %
.262
.060
Points
61.0
31.0
Assists
40
23
Aces
9
5
Blocks
10
2
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
RS/OH
/ Volleyball
S
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