Tuesday, September 16
Omaha, Neb.
6:30 PM
Creighton University
5-5,0-0Big East
2
vs
3
Nebraska
9-0,0-0Big Ten
1
2
3
4
5
F
Nebraska
25
21
25
24
15
3
Creighton
17
25
18
26
9
2
17,675 fans in Omaha on Tuesday
Photo by: Nick Barajas
17,675 Witness Volleyball Take No. 1 Huskers to the Brink
9/16/2025 9:00:00 PM | Volleyball
Teams break NCAA indoor regular-season attendance record again
OMAHA, Neb. -- A crowd of 17,675, the largest indoor volleyball-only regular-season crowd in NCAA history, saw a classic before No. 1 Nebraska ultimately survived with a 3-2 win over No. 18 Creighton on Tuesday night at CHI Health Center Omaha. Scores in favor of the Cornhuskers were 25-17. 21-25, 25-18, 24-26, 15-9.
Nebraska is now 9-0 while Creighton is 5-5 on the season. It was the fourth time in the last seven meetings that the teams played a five-set match.
Annalea Maeder introduced herself to the in-state rivalry with an ace on the first point of the match and NU would not trail until consecutive kills moved the Huskers ahead 8-7. The Jays would battle back to tie the score at 10-all but the visitors closed the set strong en route to a 25-17 victory in the opener. Kiara Reinhardt and Jaya Johnson both had three kills and Saige Damrow had seven digs in the first set, but it wasn't enough to keep up with an NU attack that had 14 kills and hit .306.
CU scored the first three points of the second set, including a pair of blocks from Reinhardt and never trailed in the second set. CU led 19-13 after Nebraska's second timeout. The Cornhuskers rallied, forcing CU timeouts at 20-17 and 22-21, but a Husker service error and Destiny Ndam-Simpson ace got CU to set point, which the Jays won when attacker Harper Murray ran into the net on a swing. CU hit .233 against the nation's top-ranked defense, with Ava Martin slamming four kills and Reinhardt collecting three blocks. NU hit .118 in the second frame, paced by four kills each from Murray and Taylor Landfair.
The Huskers didn't trail in the third set, breaking free from an 8-7 lead with an 11-2 run to build to its margin. The Bluejays used a 4-0 burst to close within 22-16, but it wasn't enough as the Cornhuskers took won the third set 25-18. NU hit .353 in the third game as Virginia Adriano had seven kills in seven swings for NU.Â
The score was knotted at 11-all in the fourth set before NU unleashed a 4-0 run leading into the media timeout. The Bluejays bounced back as you'd expect from the 11-time defending BIG EAST champs, retaking the lead at 18-17 to set up a frantic finish that featured ties at 18, 19, 20 and 22. CU led 23-22 after consecutive hitting errors from Husker All-Americans. The teams traded service errors to give the Jays a set point opportunity at 24-23, but a Husker block created the 15th tie of the set. The Jays won the set after an NU hitting error, followed by a kill from Martin. Martin had seven kills in the fourth frame.
Redshirt freshman Nora Wurtz served consecutive aces to help Creighton to a 2-0 lead to begin the fifth set, before NU used a 8-3 blitz to move ahead by three as the teams flipped benches. The Bluejays had a chance trailing 10-8, but NU scored the next four points and clinched the win on a kill from Rebekah Allick.Â
Ava Martin led Creighton with 17 kills and Damrow contributed 14 digs for the Jays. Reinhardt was also a force at the net, hitting .526 and finishing with 11 kills and six blocks. Maeder also turned in a double-double with 38 assists and 12 digs. The Bluejays had 49 kills, seven aces, 54 digs and 8.5 blocks on .173 hitting, the top mark all season against NU.
Murray led Nebraska with 17 kills while Bergen Reilly had a double-double with 43Â assists and 19Â digs. The Cornhuskers hit .250 and finished with 66 kills, four aces, 69 digs and seven blocks.
Creighton continues its stretch of eight consecutive home matches on Saturday when it hosts South Florida at 3 p.m. back at D.J. Sokol Arena.
NOTES: The previous largest indoor volleyball-only crowd was 17,037 set by Marquette in 2023 in a home match against Wisconsin. CU libero Saige Damrow was a member of that Wisconsin team, though she did not play in the match ... Creighton has now set the home attendance record four times, also doing so in 2007 vs. Cal Poly (13,081), 2018 vs. Nebraska (14,022) and 2022 (15,797 vs. Nebraska) ... Of the 10 times that Creighton has played in front of 10,000 fans or more, four of those have come this season ... Since the fall of 2021 Nebraska ranks tied for second nationally with 127 wins while Creighton is fourth with 124 ... Nora Wurtz had her seventh straight match with an ace and now has eight aces in the past two matches ...  Kiara Reinhardt reached 450 career blocks, Eloise Brandewie reached 250 career rejections and Ava Martin surpassed 1,250 career kills... Ava Martin had her 87th straight match with five or more kills ...  Saige Damrow had her 10th straight match with 10 or more digs ... The team to win the second set had won each of Creighton's first nine matches of the season ... Creighton was tied at intermission with Nebraska for the first time since 2019 ... The second set was just the third time in Nebraska's 30 sets played (to that point) this season in which it never led ... Sydney Breissinger played the fourth and fifth sets as CU's libero, the first time she's donned the alternate jersey since the final 13 matches of her freshman season in 2023 ...  Annalea Maeder had her sixth double-double in the last nine matches .,. Creighton had been 5-0 when winning the ace battle this season and 2-0 in five-set matches ... Kiara Reinhardt had her fourth match this season with 10 or more kills after just three such matches her first five seasons as a Bluejay ... Eloise Brandewie had her first serve attempt of the season on the point that ended the fourth set.
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Nebraska is now 9-0 while Creighton is 5-5 on the season. It was the fourth time in the last seven meetings that the teams played a five-set match.
Annalea Maeder introduced herself to the in-state rivalry with an ace on the first point of the match and NU would not trail until consecutive kills moved the Huskers ahead 8-7. The Jays would battle back to tie the score at 10-all but the visitors closed the set strong en route to a 25-17 victory in the opener. Kiara Reinhardt and Jaya Johnson both had three kills and Saige Damrow had seven digs in the first set, but it wasn't enough to keep up with an NU attack that had 14 kills and hit .306.
CU scored the first three points of the second set, including a pair of blocks from Reinhardt and never trailed in the second set. CU led 19-13 after Nebraska's second timeout. The Cornhuskers rallied, forcing CU timeouts at 20-17 and 22-21, but a Husker service error and Destiny Ndam-Simpson ace got CU to set point, which the Jays won when attacker Harper Murray ran into the net on a swing. CU hit .233 against the nation's top-ranked defense, with Ava Martin slamming four kills and Reinhardt collecting three blocks. NU hit .118 in the second frame, paced by four kills each from Murray and Taylor Landfair.
The Huskers didn't trail in the third set, breaking free from an 8-7 lead with an 11-2 run to build to its margin. The Bluejays used a 4-0 burst to close within 22-16, but it wasn't enough as the Cornhuskers took won the third set 25-18. NU hit .353 in the third game as Virginia Adriano had seven kills in seven swings for NU.Â
The score was knotted at 11-all in the fourth set before NU unleashed a 4-0 run leading into the media timeout. The Bluejays bounced back as you'd expect from the 11-time defending BIG EAST champs, retaking the lead at 18-17 to set up a frantic finish that featured ties at 18, 19, 20 and 22. CU led 23-22 after consecutive hitting errors from Husker All-Americans. The teams traded service errors to give the Jays a set point opportunity at 24-23, but a Husker block created the 15th tie of the set. The Jays won the set after an NU hitting error, followed by a kill from Martin. Martin had seven kills in the fourth frame.
Redshirt freshman Nora Wurtz served consecutive aces to help Creighton to a 2-0 lead to begin the fifth set, before NU used a 8-3 blitz to move ahead by three as the teams flipped benches. The Bluejays had a chance trailing 10-8, but NU scored the next four points and clinched the win on a kill from Rebekah Allick.Â
Ava Martin led Creighton with 17 kills and Damrow contributed 14 digs for the Jays. Reinhardt was also a force at the net, hitting .526 and finishing with 11 kills and six blocks. Maeder also turned in a double-double with 38 assists and 12 digs. The Bluejays had 49 kills, seven aces, 54 digs and 8.5 blocks on .173 hitting, the top mark all season against NU.
Murray led Nebraska with 17 kills while Bergen Reilly had a double-double with 43Â assists and 19Â digs. The Cornhuskers hit .250 and finished with 66 kills, four aces, 69 digs and seven blocks.
Creighton continues its stretch of eight consecutive home matches on Saturday when it hosts South Florida at 3 p.m. back at D.J. Sokol Arena.
NOTES: The previous largest indoor volleyball-only crowd was 17,037 set by Marquette in 2023 in a home match against Wisconsin. CU libero Saige Damrow was a member of that Wisconsin team, though she did not play in the match ... Creighton has now set the home attendance record four times, also doing so in 2007 vs. Cal Poly (13,081), 2018 vs. Nebraska (14,022) and 2022 (15,797 vs. Nebraska) ... Of the 10 times that Creighton has played in front of 10,000 fans or more, four of those have come this season ... Since the fall of 2021 Nebraska ranks tied for second nationally with 127 wins while Creighton is fourth with 124 ... Nora Wurtz had her seventh straight match with an ace and now has eight aces in the past two matches ...  Kiara Reinhardt reached 450 career blocks, Eloise Brandewie reached 250 career rejections and Ava Martin surpassed 1,250 career kills... Ava Martin had her 87th straight match with five or more kills ...  Saige Damrow had her 10th straight match with 10 or more digs ... The team to win the second set had won each of Creighton's first nine matches of the season ... Creighton was tied at intermission with Nebraska for the first time since 2019 ... The second set was just the third time in Nebraska's 30 sets played (to that point) this season in which it never led ... Sydney Breissinger played the fourth and fifth sets as CU's libero, the first time she's donned the alternate jersey since the final 13 matches of her freshman season in 2023 ...  Annalea Maeder had her sixth double-double in the last nine matches .,. Creighton had been 5-0 when winning the ace battle this season and 2-0 in five-set matches ... Kiara Reinhardt had her fourth match this season with 10 or more kills after just three such matches her first five seasons as a Bluejay ... Eloise Brandewie had her first serve attempt of the season on the point that ended the fourth set.
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Team Stats
Nebr
CU
Kills
66
49
Errors
26
23
Attempts
160
150
Hitting %
.250
.173
Points
76.5
64.5
Assists
58
46
Aces
4
7
Blocks
6.5
8.5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
11
Aces
1
Blocks
6
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballRS/MB
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball#18 Creighton Volleyball vs. #1 Nebraska Highlights - 9/16/25
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Creighton Volleyball vs. Nebraska Press Conference - 9/16/25
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