Sunday, August 31
Madison, Wis.
3:30 PM
Creighton University
1-2,0-0Big East
3
vs
2
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Kansas
1-3,0-0Big 12
1
2
3
4
5
F
Kansas
17
21
25
27
12
2
Creighton
25
25
21
25
15
3
Jaya Johnson
Photo by: Caleb Christensen
Rosen Earns First Win as #12 Volleyball Outlasts #14 Jayhawks
8/31/2025 6:15:00 PM | Volleyball
Breissinger serves 9-0 run in fifth set
MADISON, Wis. -- The No. 12 Creighton Volleyball team earned its first win under Brian Rosen as the Bluejays defeated No. 14 Kansas in five sets on Sunday afternoon at the Opening Spike Classic in Madison, Wis. The Bluejays fell behind 3-0 to start the fifth set before a 9-0 run helped Creighton to the victory.
Scores of the match in favor of CU were 25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 25-27, 15-12. Creighton is now 1-2 while Kansas is 1-3.
The first set featured six ties and was knotted at 7-7 before a 4-0 serving run by Ava Martin preceded a Kansas timeout. Martin then authored back-to-back aces out of the break before a Kiara Reinhardt kill helped the Jays double up KU, 14-7, and CU would not trail again en route to a 25-17 victory. Martin had four kills, three digs and a pair of aces while Eloise Brandewie had a hand in half of CU's four blocks. Creighton hit .219 in the opener and held KU to .057 hitting.
A 5-1 run midway through the second set helped Creighton move ahead 12-9. Once the Jayhawks closed within 16-15, Kiara Reinhardt put down consecutive kills as CU's lead returned to three at 18-15. Thanks in large part to five kills from Reinhardt, the Bluejays took a 2-0 lead into intermission with a 25-21 win. Brandewie added three more blocks and Saige Damrow contributed five of CU's 16 digs to help limit the Jayhawks to .118 hitting.
Creighton gained some momentum in the third set with a 5-0 run on Damrow's serve to move in front 11-10, a surge that was led by a pair of Destiny Ndam-Simpson blocks of 6-foot-7Jovana Zelenovic. Kansas broke free from a 19-19 tie with a 4-0 service run by Cristin Cline, then won it 25-21 on a Zelenovic kill. Martin topped CU with four kills in the third set. Rhian Swanson came off the bench to lead KU with four kills in the frame.
Kansas used another run on Cline's serve in the fourth set, scoring seven consecutive points to take a 12-8 lead before the Jays countered with six of the next eight points to tie the score at 14-14. The score remained tight after a big back row swing from Martin made it 19-19, the 10th tie of the set. Another Brandewie/Ndam-Simpson stuff of Zelenovic tied the score at 21 and Brandewie and Annalea Maeder followed with another block (of Selena Leban) to put CU three points from victory at 22-21. Ndam-Simpson painted the line to give CU a 23-22 lead, but Kansas scored the next two points to get a set point at 24-23. CU stayed alive after a KU attack error and a Martin kill gave CU a match point at 25-24, only to have KU stay alive on a kill by Reese Ptacek for the 17th tie of the set. KU earned itself another set point after a block by Ptacek and Cline, and won the fourth on an ace by Leban. Kansas outblocked CU 4-2 in the fourth set, limiting the Bluejay attack to .087 hitting.
Kansas scored the first three points of the fifth set on Grace Nelson's serve, but the Bluejays scored nine in a row on Sydney Breissinger's serve in a spurt that included two kills and a block by Brandewie and was capped by an ace. Kansas got within 10-7 before a Brandewie's ninth kill, and at 11-8 Reinhardt had a solo stuff to put CU up four points. Reinhardt's 11th kill put the Jays up 13-9 and a Ndam-Simpson kill made it 14-11. CU clinched it on a kill by Ndam-Simpson.
Martin led Creighton with 18 kills, adding nine digs and two aces. Ndam-Simpson had 13 kills and eight digs, while Reinhardt picked up 11 kills on .364 hitting. Brandewie hit .350 and had nine kills and nine blocks. Creighton finished with 64 kills, 74 digs, 13 blocks and five aces while hitting .204.
Kansas finished with 50 kills, 59 digs, eight blocks and four aces and hit .137. Zelenovic had 16 kills and Leban added 10 for the Jayhawks.
Creighton will play three matches next weekend at the Trojan Invitational in Los Angeles, starting with Friday's 6 p.m. Central contest against San Diego.
NOTES: Creighton tied a school-record by playing its fifth consecutive match against a ranked team dating to last fall ... The attendance of 11,678 is the largest crowd Creighton has ever played in front of for a neutral-site match ... Ava Martin had her 80th straight match with five or more kills ... Kiara Reinhardt's 11 kills were her most since Oct. 7, 2022 ... Saige Damrow joined Brittany Witt and Bianca Rivera as the only women to start their Creighton career with three straight matches of 14 digs or more ... Each of Kansas' first three matches (against Vanderbilt, No. 2 Pen State and No. 8 Wisconsin) had also gone five sets ... Eloise Brandewie had a career-high nine blocks ... Creighton has now beaten at least one Top 25 team each of the last 11 seasons ... Creighton is now 5-9 all-time against the Jayhawks but has won four of the past five meetings ... Today was the fourth time that Creighton has beaten a ranked Kansas team, which trails only Creighton's nine victories over ranked Marquette teams and five triumphs over ranked Kentucky squads ... Creighton avoided its first 0-3 start since 2002 ... Brian Rosen is Creighton's first head coach to earn his/her first win on the Bluejay sideline over a ranked team since Johnny Torres led the CU men's soccer team to a win over No. 21 Akron in 2019 ... Creighton is 21-4 in its last 25 neutral site matches ... Creighton has won 107 straight matches when taking a 2-0 lead into intermission ... Creighton snapped a five-match losing streak in five-set matches with its first such triumph since Sept. 16, 2023 at No. 9 Minnesota. Breissinger served a 9-0 run in the fifth set of that victory.
Scores of the match in favor of CU were 25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 25-27, 15-12. Creighton is now 1-2 while Kansas is 1-3.
The first set featured six ties and was knotted at 7-7 before a 4-0 serving run by Ava Martin preceded a Kansas timeout. Martin then authored back-to-back aces out of the break before a Kiara Reinhardt kill helped the Jays double up KU, 14-7, and CU would not trail again en route to a 25-17 victory. Martin had four kills, three digs and a pair of aces while Eloise Brandewie had a hand in half of CU's four blocks. Creighton hit .219 in the opener and held KU to .057 hitting.
A 5-1 run midway through the second set helped Creighton move ahead 12-9. Once the Jayhawks closed within 16-15, Kiara Reinhardt put down consecutive kills as CU's lead returned to three at 18-15. Thanks in large part to five kills from Reinhardt, the Bluejays took a 2-0 lead into intermission with a 25-21 win. Brandewie added three more blocks and Saige Damrow contributed five of CU's 16 digs to help limit the Jayhawks to .118 hitting.
Creighton gained some momentum in the third set with a 5-0 run on Damrow's serve to move in front 11-10, a surge that was led by a pair of Destiny Ndam-Simpson blocks of 6-foot-7Jovana Zelenovic. Kansas broke free from a 19-19 tie with a 4-0 service run by Cristin Cline, then won it 25-21 on a Zelenovic kill. Martin topped CU with four kills in the third set. Rhian Swanson came off the bench to lead KU with four kills in the frame.
Kansas used another run on Cline's serve in the fourth set, scoring seven consecutive points to take a 12-8 lead before the Jays countered with six of the next eight points to tie the score at 14-14. The score remained tight after a big back row swing from Martin made it 19-19, the 10th tie of the set. Another Brandewie/Ndam-Simpson stuff of Zelenovic tied the score at 21 and Brandewie and Annalea Maeder followed with another block (of Selena Leban) to put CU three points from victory at 22-21. Ndam-Simpson painted the line to give CU a 23-22 lead, but Kansas scored the next two points to get a set point at 24-23. CU stayed alive after a KU attack error and a Martin kill gave CU a match point at 25-24, only to have KU stay alive on a kill by Reese Ptacek for the 17th tie of the set. KU earned itself another set point after a block by Ptacek and Cline, and won the fourth on an ace by Leban. Kansas outblocked CU 4-2 in the fourth set, limiting the Bluejay attack to .087 hitting.
Kansas scored the first three points of the fifth set on Grace Nelson's serve, but the Bluejays scored nine in a row on Sydney Breissinger's serve in a spurt that included two kills and a block by Brandewie and was capped by an ace. Kansas got within 10-7 before a Brandewie's ninth kill, and at 11-8 Reinhardt had a solo stuff to put CU up four points. Reinhardt's 11th kill put the Jays up 13-9 and a Ndam-Simpson kill made it 14-11. CU clinched it on a kill by Ndam-Simpson.
Martin led Creighton with 18 kills, adding nine digs and two aces. Ndam-Simpson had 13 kills and eight digs, while Reinhardt picked up 11 kills on .364 hitting. Brandewie hit .350 and had nine kills and nine blocks. Creighton finished with 64 kills, 74 digs, 13 blocks and five aces while hitting .204.
Kansas finished with 50 kills, 59 digs, eight blocks and four aces and hit .137. Zelenovic had 16 kills and Leban added 10 for the Jayhawks.
Creighton will play three matches next weekend at the Trojan Invitational in Los Angeles, starting with Friday's 6 p.m. Central contest against San Diego.
NOTES: Creighton tied a school-record by playing its fifth consecutive match against a ranked team dating to last fall ... The attendance of 11,678 is the largest crowd Creighton has ever played in front of for a neutral-site match ... Ava Martin had her 80th straight match with five or more kills ... Kiara Reinhardt's 11 kills were her most since Oct. 7, 2022 ... Saige Damrow joined Brittany Witt and Bianca Rivera as the only women to start their Creighton career with three straight matches of 14 digs or more ... Each of Kansas' first three matches (against Vanderbilt, No. 2 Pen State and No. 8 Wisconsin) had also gone five sets ... Eloise Brandewie had a career-high nine blocks ... Creighton has now beaten at least one Top 25 team each of the last 11 seasons ... Creighton is now 5-9 all-time against the Jayhawks but has won four of the past five meetings ... Today was the fourth time that Creighton has beaten a ranked Kansas team, which trails only Creighton's nine victories over ranked Marquette teams and five triumphs over ranked Kentucky squads ... Creighton avoided its first 0-3 start since 2002 ... Brian Rosen is Creighton's first head coach to earn his/her first win on the Bluejay sideline over a ranked team since Johnny Torres led the CU men's soccer team to a win over No. 21 Akron in 2019 ... Creighton is 21-4 in its last 25 neutral site matches ... Creighton has won 107 straight matches when taking a 2-0 lead into intermission ... Creighton snapped a five-match losing streak in five-set matches with its first such triumph since Sept. 16, 2023 at No. 9 Minnesota. Breissinger served a 9-0 run in the fifth set of that victory.
??? Win #1 #GoJays pic.twitter.com/I9gthHTCHo
— Creighton Volleyball (@CreightonVB) September 2, 2025
Team Stats
KU
CU
Kills
50
63
Errors
29
30
Attempts
162
167
Hitting %
.130
.198
Points
62.0
82.0
Assists
45
60
Aces
4
5
Blocks
8
14
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
17
Aces
2
Blocks
1
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
9
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB
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