Creighton University Athletics
Friday, August 28
Sioux Falls, S.D.
6:00 PM
Creighton University
vs
Purdue
#13 Volleyball Opens 2026 Season With Three B1G Tests in Sioux Falls
8/25/2026 4:49:00 PM | Volleyball
2026 State Farm Volleyball Showcase
Match #1: #9 Purdue vs. #13 Creighton • Sioux Falls, S.D. • Friday, Aug. 28 • 6 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |
Match #2: #14 Minnesota vs. #13 Creighton • Sioux Falls, S.D. • Saturday, Aug. 29 • 4 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES | MINN NOTES |
Match #3: #20 USC vs. #13 Creighton • Sioux Falls, S.D. • Sunday, Aug. 30 • 12 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |
This Weekend
No. 13 Creighton Volleyball opens the regular-season with three matches in three days in Sioux Falls, S.D., for the State Farm Volleyball Showcase.
The action starts on Friday at 6 p.m. with a season-opening battle against No. 9 Purdue.
On Saturday the Bluejays renew their rivalry against No. 14 Minnesota at 4 p.m., or 30 minutes following the Arizona State vs. USC match that begins at 2 p.m.
CU wraps up the weekend on Sunday with a contest against No. 20 USC at Noon.
All three matches will be held inside Sanford Pentagon (3,250). It will be Creighton Volleyball's first trip to the facility.
Broadcast Information
All three matches this weekend will be televised.
Friday's contest vs. Purdue airs on FOX, with Connor Onion, Anna Connelly and Michelle McMahon on the call.
Onion and Connelly will also handle Saturday's broadcast against Minnesota on FS1.
Sunday's battle vs. USC on BTN features Chris Vosters alongside Connelly.
All three contests will also be streamed at http://foxsports.com/live.
Live Stats Information
All three matches will have free live stats at http://Creighton.StatBroadcast.com.
Links will also be on the GoCreighton.com volleyball schedule page.
Scouting #13 Creighton
Creighton is ranked 13th in the Preseason AVCA Top 25 poll despite the loss of three senior All-Americans from last year's team that finished 28-6 under then first-year head coach Brian Rosen.
The Bluejays look to replace Ava Martin (4.48 kps., .324%, 0.40 saps.), Kiara Reinhardt (2.53 kps., .447%, 1.03 bps.) and Annalea Maeder (10.75 aps., 2.67 dps., 0.40 saps.) with a transfer portal haul that includes Trinity Shadd-Ceres (Wisconsin), Ayden Ames (Texas) and Katie Dalton (Kansas).
Jaya Johnson (2.40 kps., .270%) is the lone All-BIG EAST returner for the Jays, but Abbey Hayes (1.88 kps.), Eloise Brandewie (1.40 kps., .297%, 1.02 bps.) and Nora Wurtz (.368%, 0.60 saps.) also saw significant time in the front row.
Sydney Breissinger (3.10 dps., 0.36 saps.) and Saige Damrow (2.56 dps.) both spent time as CU's libero last year and are expected to anchor the Bluejay back row.
The Jays also welcome five true freshmen in Bailey Boeve, Peyton Carlson, Rayna Christianson, Cambel Drapeau and Mila Vlahovic.
Creighton averaged 14.01 kills, 13.74 digs, 2.21 blocks and 2.13 aces per set while hitting .288 a year ago. Last season marked CU's 12th consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title and 11th BIG EAST Tournament crown in the past 12 years.
Creighton was a unanimous pick to win the BIG EAST, with Johnson, Hayes and Ames earning Preseason All-BIG EAST acclaim.
Scouting #9 Purdue
Purdue is ranked ninth in the Preseason AVCA Top 25 poll after returning five starters from last season's team that went 27-7 and lost in the Elite Eight to Pittsburgh.
Second Team All-Americans Kenna Wollard (4.40 kps.) and Taylor Anderson (10.84 aps.) joined Elkhorn North product and Third Team All-American Grace Heaney (3.05 kps., .319%) on the 2026 AVCA Preseason Player of the Year Watch List. All three were also named Preseason All-Big Ten.
The Boilermaker squad also features the return of middle blocker Dior Charles (.323%; 1.15 bps.) and standout libero Ryan McAleer (3.63 dps.).
Last year's Purdue team averaged 14.00 kills, 13.14 digs, 2.49 blocks and 1.27 aces per set while hitting .290.
Series History vs. Purdue
Creighton is 2-1 all-time against Purdue, beating nationally-ranked Boilermaker squads in both 2023 (3-0 at Purdue) and 2024 (3-1 at Kansas).
Brian Rosen has never faced Purdue nor coach Dave Shondell. Shondell is 1-2 against Creighton.
Both Creighton and Purdue have been nationally-ranked in each encounter.
Creighton-Purdue Connections
Purdue senior Grace Heaney is from Omaha and led Elkhorn North High School to the state final as a senior. Heaney was a club teammate of Creighton's Ivy Leuck.
Both Creighton and Purdue reached the Elite Eight last season, coming up one win shy of their first Final Four.
Creighton and Purdue are two of 15 schools to be ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll each of the last five seasons.
Creighton and Purdue are two of 10 schools to have been ranked in each of the last 79 polls.
Creighton and Purdue are two of the nine schools to appear in each of the last three Sweet 16's and two of the 20 schools to win an NCAA Tournament match each of the past three seasons.
Creighton and Purdue are two of the eight schools to be ranked in the Top 10 of the year-end poll each of the past two seasons.
Creighton (5) and Purdue (6) have combined for 11 Sweet 16 appearances in the previous 11 seasons.
Scouting #14 Minnesota
Minnesota is ranked 14th in the Preseason Top 25 poll following a 24-10 mark last year that saw the Gophers reach the Sweet 16 before losing at Pittsburgh. Minnesota was picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten this fall.
Carly Gilk (2.31 kps., .290%) was named Preseason All-Big Ten and headlines a roster that also boasts Stella Swenson (9.77 aps.), McKenna Garr (3.35 dps.), Jordan Taylor (1.35 kps., 1.25 bps.) and Lucie Blažková (2.80 kps., 443%, 1.21 bps. at Washington State).
McKenna Wucherer (2.49 kps in 2025) was a Preseason All-Big Ten selection in 2025 but missed all of last season after a back injury. Calissa Minatee (1.71 kps., .427%) and Alex Acevedo (2.64 kps., .281%) also return after missing the bulk of last season due to injuries.
As a team, Minnesota averaged 12.82 kills, 12.88 digs, 2.65 blocks and 1.68 aces per set while hitting .283.
Series History vs. Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-2 all-time against Creighton, but the Bluejays have taken the two most recent meetings.
Creighton was swept in 2007, 2008 and 2010. In 2012 Creighton won a set over the Gophers for the first time. In 2019 Creighton owned a pair of match points in the fourth set of a Second Round NCAA Tournament match before eventually falling in five sets to a Golden Gophers team that would reach the Final Four.
Most recently Creighton won at Minnesota in five sets on Sept. 16, 2023, then swept the Golden Gophers later that season in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in Omaha.
Brian Rosen has never faced the Golden Gophers nor Keegan Cook, while Cook is 2-3 against Creighton (2-1 with Washington, 0-2 with Minnesota).
Creighton-Minnesota Connections
Creighton freshman Rayna Christianson hails from the Minneapolis suburb of Lakeville, Minn., where she attended Lakeville North High School.
Minnesota's Carly Gilk was a teammate of Creighton newcomer Ayden Ames on USA Volleyball's U21 team that won the Pan Am Cup in July. Ames was also on the 2025 team that won gold at the same event, teaming with current Gophers setter Stella Swenson.
Creighton assistant coach Adam Kessenich was a volunteer assistant coach at Minnesota in 2018-19, helping the Gophers go 54-10 with a Big Ten title in 2018 and a Final Four trip in 2019.
Creighton and Minnesota have met four times in the NCAA Tournament, the most frequent opponent for the Jays in the postseason. The home team has won all four of those battles.
Creighton and Minnesota are two of 15 schools to be ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll each of the last five seasons.
Creighton and Minnesota are two of the 20 schools to win an NCAA Tournament match each of the past three seasons.
Creighton (5) and Purdue (9) have combined for 14 Sweet 16 appearances in the previous 11 seasons.
Scouting #20 USC
Ranked 20th in the Preseason AVCA Top 25 poll, USC was picked seventh in the preseason Big Ten poll after going 25-7 last year and reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Adonia Faumuina (2.52 kps.) and Abigail Mullen (2.87 kps., 0.45 saps.) were both named to the All-Big Ten Preseason Team.
Others to keep an eye on are Leah Ford (1.67 kps., .378%, 1.35 bps.), London Wijay (3.48 kps., .265%) and La Vista native Mia Tvrdy (2.30 kps., 1.13 bps.).
The Women of Troy averaged 13.69 kills, 13.37 digs, 2.76 blocks and 1.32 aces per set last season while hitting .259.
Series History vs. USC
USC leads the all-time series with Creighton by a 7-4 count, but the Bluejays have won four of the past five meetings. All 11 previous meetings have come in the last 12 years.
The Women of Troy are 3-2 on neutral floors against CU, but the Jays have won the past two such meetings at Kentucky in 2021 and at UNI in 2019.
Brian Rosen is 0-1 all-time against the Women of Troy, and 0-1 against Brad Keller. Keller is 1-3 against Creighton.
Creighton-USC Connections
USC's Mia Tvrdy is from La Vista, Neb., and played for Premier Nebraska Volleyball Club.
USC's Paisley Douglas is from Omaha and was a high school teammate of Creighton's Ivy Leuck, helping Skutt Catholic High School to a pair of state titles.
USC's Abigail Mullen was an alternate on USA Volleyball's U21 team that won the Pan Am Cup. Creighton newcomer Ayden Ames played on that team.
Sunday will mark the 12th meeting between Creighton and USC since 2014, which is quite a lot for two teams more than 1,500 miles apart who aren't league rivals. Including Sunday's battle in Sioux Falls, those 12 meetings will have taken place in six different cities and five different states: Los Angeles, Calif. (3x), Omaha, Neb. (3x), Lexington, Ky. (2x), Cedar Falls, Iowa (2x), San Diego, Calif. (1x), and now Sioux Falls, S.D. (1x).
Creighton and USC are two of 15 schools to be ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll each of the last five seasons.
Creighton Coaches
Brian Rosen enters his second season as Creighton head coach, where his 28-6 record with the Bluejays moves his career mark to 73-23 after four seasons.
Rosen was named the fourth head coach in modern Creighton Volleyball history on April 6, 2025, as he was promoted following the departure of 22-year head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. He became the BIG EAST's first rookie head coach since 2014 to win 20+ matches in his first year in the league, the only rookie head coach in league history to win multiple NCAA Tournament matches, and the first new coach to win 28+ matches in his first season.
Named the 2024 AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year, Rosen served as a Creighton assistant from 2022-24, during which time CU went 88-13, swept the BIG EAST regular-season and tournament tiles each fall, and defeated 10 Top 25 opponents.
Rosen led Creighton to the BIG EAST regular-season and Tournament titles in 2025 and a return to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
The 2008 South Carolina grad went 45-17 as head coach at Division II Nova Southeastern from 2019-21, though the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19 without playing a match.
Rosen was assisted by Angie Oxley Behrens, Adam Kessenich and Izzy Ashburn.
Last Season Summary
Creighton went 28-6 last season in Brian Rosen's first season at the helm, dropping just four sets while going 18-0 against conference foes en route to BIG EAST regular-season and BIG EAST Tournament titles.
The Jays defeated Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa and No. 8 Arizona State in the NCAA Tournament to reach its second straight Elite Eight, where it was eliminated by eventual runner-up Kentucky.
BIG EAST Player of the Year Ava Martin (4.48 kps., 0.40 saps.) and Kiara Reinhardt (2.53 kps., 1.03 bps., .447%) were both named Second Team All-Americans and became the first teammates ever selected in the first round of the same Major League Volleyball Draft, while BIG EAST Setter of the Year Annalea Maeder (10.75 aps., 0.40 saps.) was chosen as a Third Team All-American.
Exhibition Season Recap
Creighton split a pair of exhibition matches, defeating South Dakota 4-1 before losing at No. 15 Kansas, 3-2.
The Bluejays played their whole roster in both matches, as 14 different women started at least one set against the Coyotes and 12 women started at set at Kansas. By comparison, USD started 14 different women against CU, while KU rolled out the same lineup in four sets and made just one change in the other.
With A Win...
With a win on Friday...
- Creighton would improve to 22-11 in season-opening matches since restarting its program in 1994, including a 15-3 mark since 2009.
- Creighton would improve to 3-4 in season-openers against Top 25 teams, including a 3-1 mark on neutral floors.
- Creighton would improve to 34-95 all-time against Top 25 teams, and 13-44 against Top 10 opponents.
- Creighton would defeat a ranked team for the 12th straight season.
- Creighton would improve to 25-4 in its last 29 neutral site matches.
- Creighton would improve its record in the all-time series against Purdue to 3-1, with the Boilermakers being ranked in the top 20 of each encounter.
Milestone Watch
Creighton's student-athletes are approaching all sorts of milestones as the 2026 season gets underway.
Katie Dalton enters this weekend with 897 career assists and 478 digs, all amassed with Kansas.
Eloise Brandewie owns 463 kills in her career and is 37 shy of 500.
Sydney Breissinger owns 881 career digs and is 19 shy of 900.
Jaya Johnson boasts 474 career kills and is 26 short of 500. She's also nine digs away from 200.
Ayden Ames next kill will be the 300th of her career. Ames is also three blocks away from 200 in her career.
As a team, Creighton owns 49,850 kills since restarting its program in 1994 and could reach the 50,000 mark with 150 this weekend in Sioux Falls.
Hello World!
Three transfers (Ayden Ames, Katie Dalton, Trinity Shadd-Ceres) and five Bluejay true freshmen (Bailey Boeve, Peyton Carlson, Rayna Christianson, Cambel Drapeau, Mila Vlahovic) could make their Creighton regular-season debuts this weekend.
Below is the current Creighton players and how they performed in their regular-season collegiate debuts (as well as at previous schools in the cases of transfers Ames, Dalton, Shadd-Ceres, Eloise Brandewie, Saige Damrow and Ivy Leuck).
Records for a Bluejay debut can be found at the bottom of page three. Interestingly, the career leaders or career runners-up for Creighton Volleyball in digs (Brittany Witt and Kate Elman), aces (Molly Moran), kills (Jaali Winters) and blocks (Kelli Browning) also own the CU record or are second for that same category for a Bluejay debut.
Year Name SP K E TA Pct. A SA DIG TB
2024 Jaya Johnson 3 11 1 19 .526 0 0 5 0
2025 E. Brandewie• 3 5 0 11 .455 1 0 1 2
2023 Eloise Brandewie$ 3 2 2 9 000 0 0 1 3
2024 Ayden Ames@• 4 2 2 8 .000 3 0 3 1
2024 T. Shadd-Ceres!• 4 2 3 15 -.067 0 0 2 1
2025 Abbey Hayes 2 1 3 7 -.286 0 2 4 0
2023 Ava TeStrake 2 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 0 0
2023 Sydney Breissinger 3 0 0 0 --- 1 0 7 0
2023 Ivy Leuck% 3 0 1 1 -1.000 8 0 1 0
2023 Saige Damrow# 3 0 0 0 --- 5 0 4 0
2024 Nora Wurtz• 3 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0 0
2025 Saige Damrow 3 0 1 1 -1.000 0 1 15 0
2025 Ivy Leuck 3 0 1 1 -1.000 8 0 1 0
2025 Ashlyn Paymal 1 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0 0
2022 Katie Dalton^ 1 0 0 0 --- 1 0 0 0
#Damrow's stats from debut at Wisconsin in 2023
$Brandewie's stats from debut at Ohio State in 2023
%Leuck's stats from debut at Omaha in 2023
!Shadd-Ceres' stats from debut at Wisconsin in 2024
@Ames' stats from debut at Texas in 2024
^Dalton's stats from debut at Kansas in 2022
Season Opening History
Creighton is 21-11 in season-opening matches since restarting the program in 1994, and 0-1 under Brian Rosen. CU is 14-3 in its last 17 season lid-lifters.
Since restarting its program in 1994, Creighton is 14-3 in season-openers that take place on a neutral floor, 21-11 in its first neutral-site match of a season, and 20-12 in its first match away from home of a season.
Opening Day
Creighton is 2-4 all-time when opening the season against a Top 25 team, but is 2-1 when that match is on a neutral floor.
The Jays beat No. 13 BYU (3-1) in the 2013 opener at Bowling Green, and topped No. 5 Kentucky (3-2) in the 2018 lid-lifter at USC.
Creighton vs. Top 25 teams in Season Openers
Date CU Rank Opp. Rank Result
09/01/98 -- at #5 Nebraska L 0-3
08/29/08 -- #16 Minnesota L 1-3
08/30/13 25 vs. #13 BYU W 3-1
08/24/18 13 vs. #5 Kentucky W 3-2
08/30/19 18 at #2 Nebraska L 1-3
08/26/25 12 vs. #2 Penn State L 0-3
08/28/26 13 vs. #9 Purdue 6 p.m.
Preseason Ranking
Creighton was ranked 13th in the AVCA preseason poll on Aug. 10th. It's the 12th time in the past 14 years that the Jays have been ranked in the preseason, and fifth season in a row.
The No. 13 slotting is tied for the fourth-best preseason mark in program history.
Creighton is one of 15 schools to be ranked in every preseason Top 25 poll since 2022, a list featuring Baylor, BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, USC, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin. Of note, Creighton is the nation's only program that was nationally-ranked in the preseason polls in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and improved its position in the year-end poll.
Over the previous 18 seasons from 2008-25, 333-of-450 teams (74.0 percent) have been in both the preseason and final polls. From 2008-25, all but 42 teams (of 450) named in the preseason AVCA Top 25 poll would go on to reach the NCAA Tournament (90.7 percent).
This year marks the 15th straight season that CU has been ranked at least one week, extending a program record.
Year Preseason Rank Final W-L Final Rank
2013 25th 23-9 NR
2014 23rd 25-9 NR
2016 18th 27-9 9th
2017 9th 26-7 16th
2018 13th 29-5 13th
2019 18th 25-6 16th
2020 16th 12-4 NR
2022 18th 27-5 21st
2023 18th 29-5 15th
2024 12th 32-3 5th
2025 12th 28-6 10th
2026 13th TBD TBD
156 Weeks As A Ranked Team
Creighton is ranked 13th in the preseason AVCA poll, the 156th time in program history it's been ranked. That's 37th-most of all programs in NCAA history.
All 140 rankings have occurred since 2012.
The Bluejays are one of 10 schools (along with Baylor, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pitt, Purdue, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin) to have been ranked each of the last 79 polls.
Creighton's 79 weeks in a row being ranked dates began on Sept. 6, 2021 and sets a program-record, breaking the previous-high of 64 from Oct. 31, 2016 to March 15, 2021.
Creighton is one of eight schools (Creighton, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Stanford, Wisconsin) to be in the Top 10 of the year-end poll in both 2024 and 2025.
Rank, Rank, Rank
Creighton will open the season this weekend with three straight matches against nationally-ranked teams.
It's the fourth time the Jays have opened the season with three consecutive Top 25 foes, also doing so in 1998 (going 0-3), 2019 (going 1-2 with a win over No. 12 Kentucky) and 2025 (going 1-2 with a win over No. 14 Kansas).
However, this will be the first time that CU will play three matches against Top 25 opponents in the same weekend to open the season, or on any weekend in program history.
When you factor in that Creighton closed last season with matches against No. 8 Arizona State and No. 2 Kentucky, this marks the second time ever that Creighton will have played five straight matches against ranked foes. CU's final two matches in 2024 were against No. 13 Texas and No. 2 Penn State before opening 2025 against No. 2 Penn State, No. 5 Texas and No. 14 Kansas.
Top 10 Wins
Creighton owns 12 Top 10 wins in program history, all of which have taken place in the previous 11 seasons.
All but one of those Top 10 wins have taken place away from home, including a victory over No. 8 Arizona State in last year's Sweet 16.
Creighton owns four top-five wins in program history, and all of those were away from home.
The highest-ranked teams that Creighton has ever beaten was No. 3 Washington (8/26/17) and No. 3 Kentucky (9/4/21).
Looking ahead to this weekend, Creighton is 2-1 all-time against teams ranked 9th, 2-2 all-time against teams ranked 14th, and 1-3 all-time against teams ranked 20th. The Jays are 3-3 when ranked 13th.
Creighton's Top 10 Wins
Date Opponent Score
09/05/15 vs. #10 Kentucky (at UNI) W 3-1
12/02/16 at #4 Kansas W 3-2
08/26/17 at #3 Washington W 3-1
09/09/17 at #7 Kansas W 3-0
08/24/18 vs. #5 Kentucky (at USC) W 3-2
10/12/19 at #10 Marquette W 3-2
11/09/19 #9 Marquette W 3-1
09/04/21 at #3 Kentucky W 3-0
09/16/23 at #9 Minnesota W 3-2
09/20/24 vs. #6 Purdue (at Kansas) W 3-1
09/21/24 at #10 Kansas W 3-0
12/11/25 vs. #8 Arizona State (at Kentucky) W 3-1
Top 25 History
Creighton is 259-54 all-time when playing as a ranked team, and also 28-34 all-time against ranked teams when ranked itself. That mark is 4-4 when both Creighton and its opponent are ranked in the top 10.
Since the start of the 2012 season, 49 of Creighton's 83 losses have come against ranked teams. In that same period, Creighton is 339-34 against unranked teams. Creighton has won all but three of its past 135 home matches over unranked teams and all but 13 of its last 200 matches at all sites against unranked teams.
Ranked vs. Ranked (CU is 28-34)
Home: 11-11 Away: 8-14 Neutral: 9-9
Date Winner Loser CU Score
11/19/12 #11 Minnesota #21 Creighton 1-3
08/30/13 #25 Creighton #13 BYU 3-1
09/14/13 #11 UCLA #24 Creighton 1-3
09/16/13 #7 Hawaii #23 Creighton 2-3
08/30/14 #22 Kansas #23 Creighton 1-3
09/03/16 #23 Kentucky #22 Creighton 0-3
12/02/16 #21 Creighton #4 Kansas 3-2
12/09/16 #21 Creighton #17 Michigan 3-2
12/10/16 #5 Texas #21 Creighton 0-3
08/26/17 #9 Creighton #3 Washington 3-1
09/01/17 #7 Creighton #13 Kentucky 3-0
09/02/17 #18 USC #7 Creighton 0-3
09/08/17 #17 Purdue #9 Creighton 1-3
09/09/17 #9 Creighton #7 Kansas 3-0
09/16/17 #19 Iowa State #8 Creighton 2-3
12/12/17 #12 Michigan St. #15 Creighton 1-3
08/24/18 #13 Creighton #5 Kentucky 3-2
08/25/18 #10 USC #13 Creighton 2-3
09/06/18 #7 Nebraska #14 Creighton 2-3
09/15/18 #8 Illinois #10 Creighton 1-3
09/23/18 #10 Creighton #21 Marquette 3-0
10/26/18 #10 Creighton #18 Marquette 3-1
11/24/18 #9 Creighton #16 Marquette 3-1
12/01/18 #22 Washington #9 Creighton 0-3
08/30/19 #2 Nebraska #18 Creighton 1-3
08/31/19 #20 Baylor #18 Creighton 0-3
09/06/19 #23 Creighton #12 Kentucky 3-1
09/07/19 #23 Creighton #15 USC 3-1
09/14/19 #12 Washington #17 Creighton 1-3
10/12/19 #13 Creighton #10 Marquette 3-2
11/22/19 #12 Creighton #9 Marquette 3-1
12/07/19 #7 Minnesota #15 Creighton 2-3
02/05/21 #19 Creighton #25 Marquette 3-2
02/06/21 #25 Marquette #19 Creighton 0-3
09/08/21 #3 Nebraska #19 Creighton 0-3
09/02/22 #17 Creighton #25 USC 3-1
09/03/22 #16 Kentucky #17 Creighton 1-3
09/07/22 #2 Nebraska #17 Creighton 2-3
10/14/22 #21 Creighton #16 Marquette 3-2
11/19/22 #16 Marquette #11 Creighton 0-3
11/26/22 #15 Creighton #14 Marquette 3-2
08/26/23 #18 Creighton #16 Purdue 3-0
09/06/23 #4 Nebraska #16 Creighton 1-3
09/16/23 #14 Creighton #9 Minnesota 3-2
11/05/23 #17 Creighton #25 Marquette 3-0
12/07/23 #7 Louisville #17 Creighton 2-3
09/05/24 #11 Creighton #20 USC 3-1
09/10/24 #5 Nebraska #9 Creighton 2-3
09/15/24 #4 Louisville #9 Creighton 2-3
09/20/24 #9 Creighton #6 Purdue 3-1
09/21/24 #9 Creighton #10 Kansas 3-0
12/13/24 #6 Creighton #13 Texas 3-1
12/15/24 #2 Penn State #6 Creighton 2-3
08/23/25 #2 Penn State #12 Creighton L 0-3
08/29/25 #5 Texas #12 Creighton L 0-3
08/31/25 #12 Creighton #14 Kansas W 3-2
09/07/25 #22 USC #13 Creighton L 0-3
09/12/25 #4 Louisville #13 Creighton L 1-3
09/16/25 #1 Nebraska #18 Creighton L 2-3
09/21/25 #18 Creighton #17 Kansas W 3-0
12/11/25 #11 Creighton #8 Arizona State W 3-1
12/13/25 #2 Kentucky #11 Creighton L 0-3
08/28/26 #9 Purdue vs. #13 Creighton 6 pm
08/29/26 #13 Creighton vs. #14 Minnesota 4 pm
08/30/26 #13 Creighton vs. #20 USC 12 pm
Against Ranked Foes
After a total of three top-25 wins from 1994-2014, Creighton has earned at least one top-25 win each of the previous 11 seasons (2015-25).
Creighton is 33-95 all-time against ranked teams, and 3-6 under Brian Rosen.
The highest ranked teams that Creighton has ever beaten at any site were No. 3 Washington (8/26/17 in Seattle) and No. 3 Kentucky (9/4/21 in Lexington). CU's highest-ranked opponent it has defeated at home was a 3-1 win over then-No. 9 Marquette on Nov. 22, 2019. The highest-ranked team CU has defeated under Rosen was No. 8 Arizona State (W 3-1) on Dec. 11, 2025 in Lexington, Ky., in the Sweet 16.
Last year was the ninth season that CU owned multiple Top-25 victories, and fourth in a row with three Top 25 wins or more. The Jays beat three Top 25 teams in 2017, 2022, 2023 and 2025, and a record four in 2018, 2019 and 2024.
Put It In Neutral
Creighton went 5-2 on neutral floors last season (including wins over #8 Arizona State and #14 Kansas), continuing a trend of playing well at neutral sites.
The Bluejays are 24-4 in the previous five seasons on neutral floors, including a 7-0 mark in 2021, a 4-0 record in 2022, a 5-2 record in 2023, a 4-0 record in 2024 and a 4-2 mark in 2025.
Included in that stretch are neutral-site wins over USC (2021), Northern Iowa (2021 and 2024), Iowa State (2022 & 2023), Florida State (2022), Kansas State (2022), Loyola Chicago (2023), High Point (2023), St. John's (2023), Rice (2024), Purdue (2024), Texas (2024), Kansas (2025) and Arizona State (2025).
Some Fab Freshmen To Start
Creighton has started 15 different true freshmen in its season opener since 2009, and 19 such players since 2000.
Since 2000, the only true freshmen to start CU's season-opener have been Brittany Coleman (2003), Carolyn Decker (2004), Korie Lebeda (2005), Allie Oelke (2007), Brooke Boggs (2009), Heather Thorson (2009), Julianne Mandolfo (2010), Katie Neisler (2011), Michelle Sicner (2011), Melanie Jereb (2012), Ashley Jansen (2012), Jess Bird (2013), Jaali Winters (2015), Naomi Hickman (2017), Emily Bressman (2019), Kiara Reinhardt (2020), Kendra Wait (2021), Norah Sis (2021) and Sky McCune (2022), with Coleman, Lebeda and Wait the only freshmen to start at setter in the season-opener.
In addition, CU also started redshirt freshmen Lauren Smith (2013) and Brittany Lawrence (2015), as well as transfers Maggie Baumert (2014), Lydia Dimke (2016), Madelyn Cole (2018), Erica Kostelac (2019), Mahina Pua'a (2020), Ellie Bichelmeyer (2023), Elise Goetzinger (2024). Eloise Brandewie (2025) and Annalea Maeder (2025) in season-openers.
Eleven of those women (Martin, Sis, Wait, Reinhardt, Coleman, Decker, Lebeda, Oelke, Mandolfo, Sicner and Jereb) went on to land a spot on the MVC or BIG EAST's All-Freshman Team (though the BIG EAST had no such team from 2013-19).
Dimke (2016), Winters (2018), Sis (2022), Wait (2023, 2024) and Martin (2025) would all end up being named BIG EAST Player of the Year, while Winters (2015), Davis (2019), Sis (2021) and Martin (2022) would go on to be named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.
Production Returns
Creighton returns 9-of-17 letterwinners to the court from last season, including three starters.
From last year's team, Ava Martin, Kiara Reinhardt, Annalea Maeder, Sky McCune, Alivia Hausmann, Sophia Wendlick, Destiny Ndam-Simpson and Emersen Strain are not back.
All told, of the seven categories listed below, Creighton returns 316.2 of a possible 700% back (45.2 percent), the third-smallest amount returning in the past 25 seasons behind only 2009 and 2025.
Below is a breakdown of the production that is back:
Stat Returners Departures
Digs 993 (61.3%) 628 (38.7%)
Aces 142 (56.6%) 109 (43.4%)
Blocks 144 (55.2%) 117 (44.8%)
Matches Started 92 (45.1%) 112 (54.9%)
Points 964 (44.5%) 1201 (55.5%)
Kills 678 (41.0%) 975 (59.0%)
Assists 192 (12.5%) 1340 (87.5%)
One Tough Schedule
Of Creighton's 12 non-conference matches, six are against ranked teams and four others against programs that received votes in the preseason AVCA Top 25 poll.
All 12 non-conference teams on Creighton's schedule finished the 2025 campaign with a top-44 RPI. That should come as no surprise, as Creighton faced the second-most difficult schedule (all matches) last season.
The Gauntlet
Creighton played the nation's second-toughest schedule, and also ranked among the national leaders in Top 50 wins and matches vs. Top 50 opponents in 2025.
Creighton was 18-0 (including the league tournament) against the BIG EAST Conference (the nation's #5 league).
Most RPI Top 50 Wins in 2025
Top 50 W's School
18 Nebraska
17 Arizona State
15 Creighton, Pittsburgh
14 Wisconsin
Most RPI Top 50 Matches in 2025
Top 50 MP's School
21 Creighton, Arizona State, Kansas
20 Pittsburgh
19 Nebraska, Wisconsin, TCU, Utah
Great Faces, Great Places
Creighton is playing its first volleyball matches at the Sanford Pentagon this weekend, returning to the Mount Rushmore State for the first time to play any matches in South Dakota since 2021.
Since restarting volleyball in 1994, Creighton is 1-1 all-time in the state of South Dakota. The Bluejays lost in four sets in Brookings at South Dakota State on Sept. 19, 2006 and pulled a reverse sweep in Vermillion to top South Dakota on Jan. 31, 2021.
Creighton Volleyball best-known alum to hail from South Dakota is Taryn Kloth, who starred for the Jays from 2015-18. Kloth, who got married last summer and now goes by Taryn Brasher, owned 1,427 kills for the Bluejays and was an AVCA All-American in 2016 and 2018. She became Creighton's first female Olympian in 2024 in Paris, where she tied for ninth place in Beach Volleyball alongside Kristen Nuss.
Advance In The Dance
Creighton is one of nine schools to appear in the Sweet 16 in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments (2023-25), joining Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin.
Creighton is one of six schools to be in the Elite Eight in both 2024 and 2025, a list that features Creighton, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Stanford and Wisconsin.
Creighton has won a First Round match in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons (2023-25). Nationally, only 20 schools have done that: Arizona State, Baylor, Creighton, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Marquette, Miami (Fla.), Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, SMU, Stanford, TCU, Texas, USC and Wisconsin.
How Sweet It Is
Creighton has made five Sweet 16s, all of which have come in the 11 seasons from 2015-25. Creighton is one of 46 schools to have made a Sweet 16 since 2015, but only 16 of those teams have been there five times or more in that span.
Here's that list, which includes CU's foes on Friday (Purdue) and Saturday (Minnesota).
Most Sweet 16s, Last 11 Seasons (2015-25)
Sweet 16s School
11 Nebraska
11 Texas
11 Wisconsin
9 Minnesota
9 Penn State
8 Florida
8 Kentucky
8 Stanford
7 Louisville
6 BYU
6 Pittsburgh
6 Purdue
6 Washington
5 Creighton
5 Ohio State
5 Oregon
Replacing Three AVCA All-Americans
Creighton Volleyball had three seniors earn All-America honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association last season, as Ava Martin and Kiara Reinhardt picked up Second Team honors, and Annalea Maeder was a Third Team choice.
Creighton's three honorees were tied for fifth-most in the nation, trailing only the four women chosen from Kentucky, Nebraska, SMU and Texas A&M.
Last year marked the 14th straight season that Creighton has had at least one All-American, with multiple All-Americans in 10 of the previous 11 campaigns. The only schools with multiple All-Americans each of the past five years are now Creighton, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Stanford and Wisconsin.
Both Martin and Reinhardt were selected in the Major League Volleyball Draft on Nov. 24, 2025. Martin was the second overall section by the Atlanta Vibe, while Reinhardt was selected No. 8 overall in the first round by the Omaha Supernovas. The selections made Creighton the first school in league history to have two picks in the First Round of the same draft.
This is the second straight season the Jays have had to replace three or more All-Americans, as the 2025 Creighton squad that reached the Elite Eight had to replace Kendra Wait, Norah Sis, Maddy Bilinovic and Elise Goetzinger from its 2024 team that also made the Elite Eight.
Golden Girls
Creighton junior Ayden Ames spent the summer winning a second straight Pan American Cup Gold Medal with USA Volleyball's U21 team and starting three of the team's five matches, including the final. Ames had 18 kills in 35 swings and hit .400 in the four matches she appeared in.
Ames will reunite with a few former teammates this weekend in Sioux Falls. Minnesota's Carly Gilk was her teammate on the 2026 squad, Minnesota's Stella Swenson was her teammate on the 2025 squad, and USC's Abigail Mullen was an alternate on the 2025 team.
Winners Win
Creighton owns 268 wins over the previous 10 seasons, which coincides with the start of the 2016 season.
That ranks fourth-most nationally, and among some of the most storied programs in all the land. CU is also fifth in win percentage in the last decade.
Previous 10 Seasons (2016-25)
Sorted By Wins Sorted By Win Percentage
1. 287 Nebraska 1. .874 Texas 256-37
2. 283 Pittsburgh 2. .872 Nebraska 287-42
3. 278 Western Kentucky 3. .8634 Western Kentucky 278-44
4. 268 Creighton 4. .8628 Pittsburgh 283-45
5. 261 Wisconsin 5. .838 Creighton 268-52
6. 256 Texas 6. .8312 Wisconsin 261-53
7. 255 Stanford 7. .8311 BYU 251-51
8. 253 Stephen F. Austin 8. .825 Stanford 255-54
9. 251 BYU 9. .813 Kentucky 248-57
10. 248 Kentucky 10. .797 Dayton 244-62
No Losers Here
Creighton has been as good as anyone at avoiding losses in recent seasons.
Creighton and Pittsburgh are the nation's only teams to lose six times or less in the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Creighton is also the only school nationally who have won 25 matches or more in every season between 2014-25 (not counting the 2020 COVID-19 year, when CU only played 16 times).
Creighton is one three schools to win 27 matches or more each of the last five seasons (2021-25), joining Pittsburgh and Western Kentucky.
Nothing Mid-Major About It
There's nothing mid-major about the Creighton Volleyball program.
Since 2012, Creighton ranks fourth nationally with 372 victories. The only teams with more wins in those 14 seasons were Western Kentucky (400), Nebraska (394) and Penn State (375). Just behind CU is Texas (370) and Stanford (368).
In that time, Creighton has made five Sweet 16's and three Elite Eights while leading the country with both 13 regular-season conference titles and 12 league tournament titles,
Creighton is the only Volleyball program in BIG EAST history to ever reach the Elite Eight, and has now done it three times (2016, 2024 and 2025).
14 Straight NCAA's
Creighton Volleyball has made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 14 seasons. They are the first women's team in any sport at Creighton to make 14 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
The only other sport in Creighton history to make even 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances is the men's soccer program, which qualified in 17 straight seasons from 1992-2008.
Creighton is one of seven teams nationally to have appeared in each of the last 14 NCAA Tournaments (2012-25). That group features BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State and Texas.
How Elite Are We?
Creighton and UCLA are the nation's only schools to reach the Elite Eight in women's volleyball (2024 and 2025), women's basketball (2021), men's basketball (2022) and men's soccer (2022) since the start of the 2021-22 academic year.
Creighton, UCLA and Kentucky are the nation's only schools to reach the Sweet 16 in those same sports since the start of the 2021-22 academic year.
Survival of the Fittest
Since the move to rally scoring in 2001, Creighton has won 10 matches when surviving a match point and lost four contests when holding a match point of its own.
Surviving Match Points Since 2001
Date Opponent MP(s) Faced Final Set 5
09/27/02 Evansville 13-14, 14-15 19-17
08/30/03 vs. McNeese State 13-14, 15-16 18-16
10/10/03 Wichita State 13-14 16-14
10/13/06 at Wichita State 12-14, 13-14, 14-15 17-15
09/11/07 at Drake 13-14, 14-15 17-15
08/26/11 vs. UTSA 12-14, 13-14 16-14
11/16/12 at Wichita State 13-14 16-14
09/20/15 Kansas State 23-24 (4th set) 15-13
11/20/15 at Georgetown 23-24, 26-27 (4th set) 15-7
08/24/18 vs. #5 Kentucky 16-15, 19-18 22-20
Tournament Tested
Creighton has played multiple matches in 30 tournaments since the start of the 2021 calendar year, and won 20 of them.
Keep in mind that when Kirsten Bernthal Booth was hired in 2003, Creighton had been 17-33 in 15 regular-season tournaments all-time, with just one tournament title (the 2000 Iowa State Heritage Classic).
CU's Multi-Match Tournaments Since Jan. 1, 2021
Year Event CU Record (Place)
2021 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2021 Mizzou Invitational 3-0 (1st)
2021 Bluegrass Battle 3-0 (1st)
2021 Bluejay Invitational 3-0 (1st)
2021 Shocker Volleyball Classic 3-0 (1st)
2021 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2021 NCAA Tournament 1-1 (T-17th)
2022 Rumble in the Rockies 3-0 (1st)
2022 Bluejay Invitational 2-1 (2nd)
2022 Omaha Invitational 2-0 (1st)
2022 Rice adidas Invitational 1-1 (2nd)
2022 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2023 Reamer Club Xtra Special Premier 2-1 (1st)
2023 Bluejay Invitational 3-0 (1st)
2023 MN Hospitality Omaha Challenge 2-0 (1st)
2023 Diet Coke Challenge 2-0 (1st)
2023 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2023 NCAA Tournament 2-1 (T-9th)
2024 Bluejay Invitational 3-0 (1st)
2024 Creighton Classic 2-0 (1st)
2024 Cardinal Classic 2-1 (2nd)
2024 Jayhawk Classic 2-0 (1st)
2024 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2024 NCAA Tournament 3-1 (T-5th)
2025 Opening Spike Classic 1-1 (T-2nd)
2025 Trojan Invitational 2-1 (2nd)
2025 Bluejay Invitational 2-1 (2nd)
2025 Creighton Classic 2-0 (1st)
2025 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2025 NCAA Tournament 3-1 (T-5th)
Jays Earn Tourney Titles
Creighton has won at least one tournament each of the previous 14 seasons, a streak that dates to 2012.
During that span, the Bluejays have won 36 tournament titles, not to mention 13 regular-season league crowns.
Creighton has also now won at least one home tournament each of the last nine seasons.
Creighton's Tournament Titles Since 2012
Year Titles Won Tourney Hosts
2012 3 USF, UNC, MVC
2013 1 BGSU
2014 1 CU, BIG EAST
2015 1 BIG EAST
2016 1 BIG EAST
2017 4 WASH, CU, KU, BIG EAST
2018 3 SMU, CU, BIG EAST
2019 2 UNI, CU
2020 1 BIG EAST
2021 5 MIZZ, UK, CU, WSU, BIG EAST
2022 3 WYO, UNO, BIG EAST
2023 5 Purdue, CU, UNO, MINN, BIG EAST
2024 4 CU, CU, KU, BIG EAST
2025 2 CU, BIG EAST
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 440-11 (.976) all-time when leading a match 2-0, and 161-1 (.994) all-time at D.J. Sokol Arena when up 2-0 at the break.
Per RichKern.com, Division I teams that won the first two sets won 94.9 percent of their matches from 2014-23.
Creighton has won 127 matches in a row when taking a 2-0 lead.
Conversely, the Jays are 17-212 (.074) all-time when trailing a match 0-2. Those 17 comebacks in program history from down 0-2 are listed below.
Date Opponent Sets 3-5 scores Coach
09/19/97 at Bradley 15-11, 15-13, 15-8 Wallace
10/01/99 at Drake 15-6, 17-15, 15-11 Wallace
09/03/04 vs. Montana 30-20, 30-21, 15-11 Booth
10/15/04 at Bradley 30-22, 30-23, 15-11 Booth
10/15/05 at So. Illinois 30-25, 30-24, 15-8 Booth
09/21/07 at No. Iowa 31-29, 30-26, 15-12 Booth
11/16/12 at Wichita St. 25-16, 25-20, 16-14 Booth
09/05/14 vs. No. Iowa 25-16, 25-22, 15-5 Booth
11/08/14 at Butler 25-16, 25-20, 15-13 Booth
09/20/15 Kansas State 25-23, 26-24, 15-13 Booth
10/09/15 DePaul 25-21, 25-12, 15-11 Booth
11/20/15 at Georgetown 30-28, 26-24, 15-7 Booth
10/13/17 Butler 25-21, 25-23, 15-9 Booth
10/18/18 Xavier 25-17, 25-17, 15-13 Booth
01/31/21 at So. Dakota 25-20, 25-23, 15-7 Booth
10/07/22 at UConn 25-15, 25-12, 15-13 Booth
10/14/22 #16 Marquette 25-19, 25-16, 15-8 Booth
Set 1 Result A Strong Indicator
Creighton has gone 188-6 in its last 194 matches at all sites when winning the first set, compared to an 18-27 record in that same span when dropping the opener.
Creighton has gone 219-4 (.982) in its last 223 matches against unranked foes when winning the opening set.
Per RichKern.com, Division I teams that lost the first set won just 20.3 percent of their matches from 2014-23.
Since Aug. 29, 2010, Creighton has gone 181-6 in its last 187 home matches when taking a 1-0 lead, losing only to Pacific (Sept. 12, 2015), No. 7 Nebraska (Sept. 6, 2018), South Dakota (Jan. 29, 2021), No. 16 Kentucky (Sept. 3, 2022), Auburn (Dec. 2, 2022) and No. 4 Louisville (Sept. 12, 2025).
The Jays have won their last 45 of their last 46 home matches following a first set victory.
Champions Among Champions
Since the start of the 2012 season, Creighton, and Western Kentucky are the nation's only schools to have won 13 or more conference regular-season titles. All but three of Creighton's 12 crowns were outright titles, whereas WKU has shared six championships.
Creighton has also won 12 conference tournament titles since 2012, the most in the nation.
Most Conference Titles 2012-2025
Regular-Season League Tournament
13 (3 shared) Creighton 12 Creighton
13 (6) Western Kentucky 11 Western Kentucky
12 (1) Fairfield 10 Fairfield
11 (1) Texas
12 Straight BIG EAST Regular-Season Titles
Creighton (2014-25) is the first team in BIG EAST volleyball history to win 12 straight regular-season titles. The previous record had been seven by Notre Dame from 1999-2005.
The Bluejay volleyball team is also the first Creighton program in any sport to win more than five straight league titles, more than doubling the previous high of five in a row by the men's soccer program (1992-96) in the MVC.
The only other volleyball team nationally with an active streak of more than six straight regular-season league titles is Kentucky, which won its ninth consecutive SEC crown last year.
Creighton's 12 straight regular-season titles rank third-longest in NCAA history, trailing only Florida's 18 straight SEC titles from 1991-2008 and Hawaii's 16 consecutive WAC crowns from 1996-2011.
Home Sweet Home
Creighton is entering its 14th season as a member of the BIG EAST since joining the league in the summer of 2013.
Since then, the Bluejays are 120-4 in home matches against BIG EAST teams (109-3 in the regular-season, 11-1 in the BIG EAST Tournament).
Since the start of the 2015 season, Creighton is 104-1 inside D.J. Sokol Arena against BIG EAST teams, which includes a 94-1 mark in league play and a 10-0 mark in the conference tournament. The only setback (on Feb. 6, 2021 vs. Marquette) was played as a non-conference match, only to be flipped to a league contest 19 days later. Creighton has won 54 straight matches against BIG EAST opposition at home.
Put another way, since enrolling at Creighton in the fall of 2023, fourth-year Bluejay seniors Sydney Breissinger, Jaya Johnson and Ava TeStrake are 32-0 in home matches against BIG EAST teams, and 96-10 in sets.
Since the start of the 2023 season, Creighton has won 84-of-88 sets at home against BIG EAST teams, dropping only the third set on Oct. 1, 2024 to Marquette, the second and third sets to Marquette on Nov. 1, 2025, and the second set to Villanova on Nov. 7, 2025.
BIG EAST'S Best
Since the reconfiguration of the BIG EAST in the summer of 2013, Creighton, Marquette and St. John's are the only teams to win any sort of BIG EAST volleyball title.
Creighton owns 12 regular-season titles (3 shared) in that time, while Marquette owns four regular-season (3 shared) crowns.
As it relates to BIG EAST Tournament titles, Creighton has won 11, Marquette one and St. John's one since 2013.
Below is a look at the record of each BIG EAST team since league realignment in 2013:
BIG EAST VB Standings, 2013 - 2025
BIG EAST only All matches
Team (NCAA Bids) W L W L
Creighton (13) 204 16 343 79
Marquette (12) 180 37 302 104
Xavier (1) 130 88 205 175
Villanova (1) 111 109 208 171
St. John's (1) 110 110 232 180
Butler 108 112 190 193
Seton Hall (1) 86 133 173 207
DePaul 72 148 163 214
Georgetown 51 161 125 236
Connecticut# 50 46 98 71
Providence* 33 171 124 226
*Providence rejoined the league for volleyball in 2014 and
its 2013 overall record (12-20) is not included above.
#Connecticut rejoined the league in 2020 and
its record from 2013-19 (96-121) is not included above.
Against The BIG EAST
Since the BIG EAST was restructured in 2013, Creighton owns a winning percentage better than .800 against each of the other teams currently in the BIG EAST.
The Bluejays own 227 wins against BIG EAST competition (including BIG EAST Championship play) since 2013, 40 more wins than Marquette for most in the league.
CU still has not lost to three league foes (DePaul, Georgetown, Providence) since joining the BIG EAST, and Marquette (6), Villanova (3), Seton Hall (3) and St. John's (3) are the only BIG EAST programs to top the Bluejays multiple times since 2013.
Opponent Reg. Season BE Tourney Total
Butler 23-1 - 23-1
Connecticut 5-1 1-0 6-1
DePaul 26-0 3-0 29-0
Georgetown 24-0 - 24-0
Marquette 21-5 8-1 29-6
Providence 18-0 - 18-0
Seton Hall 21-3 2-0 23-3
St. John's 22-2 1-1 23-3
Villanova 21-3 3-0 24-3
Xavier 23-1 5-0 28-1
TOTAL 204-16 23-2 227-18
Rosen Sets More History
Last year Brian Rosen was the first volleyball head coach to go unbeaten in BIG EAST play in their first season as head coach at a school since Pitt's Cindy Alvear went 7-0 in 1993.
Rosen was the first volleyball head coach to win a BIG EAST regular-season title in their first season as head coach at a school since Louisville's Anne Kordes in 2011.
Rosen was the first volleyball head coach to win 20+ matches in their first year as a head coach at a BIG EAST school since Ryan Theis won 24 matches at Marquette in 2014.
Rosen's 28 victories were the most ever by a head coach in his/her first season in the BIG EAST.
Rosen became the first volleyball head coach to win a BIG EAST Tournament title in their first season as head coach at a school since Georgetown's Li Liu in 1999.
Rosen became the first male head coach to win a BIG EAST Tournament title since Marquette's Bond Shymansky in 2013.
Rosen became the first volleyball head coach to win an NCAA Tournament match in their first year as a head coach at a BIG EAST school since Louisville's Anne Kordes in 2011, and the only rookie BIG EAST Volleyball coach to win multiple NCAA Tournament matches in the same season.
Top 25 Sweeps
Creighton owns 33 Top 25 victories in its history, with nine of those being 3-0 sweeps.
Three of those wins have come against Kansas, another three against Kentucky, two vs. Marquette and one at Purdue.
Creighton's 3-0 Wins vs. Top 25 Teams
Opponent Date
vs. #10 Kentucky 09/05/15
#13 Kentucky 09/01/17
at #7 Kansas 09/09/17
#21 Marquette 09/23/18
at #3 Kentucky 09/04/21
at #16 Purdue 08/26/23
#25 Marquette 11/05/23
at #10 Kansas 09/21/24
#17 Kansas 09/21/25
Against NCAA Tournament Qualifiers
This year's team has at least 15 matches against teams that made the 2025 NCAA Tournament with contests against Marquette (2x), Xavier (2x), Purdue, Minnesota, USC, Arizona, Tulsa, Northern Iowa, Louisville, Rice, Nebraska, Kansas State and Texas A&M.
Year W-L vs. Previous Season NCAA Teams
1994 0-4
1995 0-2
1996 0-2
1997 0-3
1998 0-5
1999 2-4
2000 0-4
2001 1-6
2002 0-5
2003 0-3
2004 2-2
2005 0-6
2006 4-6
2007 4-9
2008 6-8
2009 1-11
2010 4-7
2011 2-6
2012 8-3
2013 6-6
2014 4-5
2015 11-5
2016 10-7
2017 8-6
2018 8-5
2019 5-4
2020 3-1
2021 3-1
2022 5-4
2023 11-3
2024 9-3
2025 9-6
2026 0-0 so far
TOTAL 125-151
TOTAL Before Booth 3-35
TOTAL Under Booth 113-110
TOTAL Under Rosen 9-6
Match #1: #9 Purdue vs. #13 Creighton • Sioux Falls, S.D. • Friday, Aug. 28 • 6 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |
Match #2: #14 Minnesota vs. #13 Creighton • Sioux Falls, S.D. • Saturday, Aug. 29 • 4 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES | MINN NOTES |
Match #3: #20 USC vs. #13 Creighton • Sioux Falls, S.D. • Sunday, Aug. 30 • 12 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |
This Weekend
No. 13 Creighton Volleyball opens the regular-season with three matches in three days in Sioux Falls, S.D., for the State Farm Volleyball Showcase.
The action starts on Friday at 6 p.m. with a season-opening battle against No. 9 Purdue.
On Saturday the Bluejays renew their rivalry against No. 14 Minnesota at 4 p.m., or 30 minutes following the Arizona State vs. USC match that begins at 2 p.m.
CU wraps up the weekend on Sunday with a contest against No. 20 USC at Noon.
All three matches will be held inside Sanford Pentagon (3,250). It will be Creighton Volleyball's first trip to the facility.
Broadcast Information
All three matches this weekend will be televised.
Friday's contest vs. Purdue airs on FOX, with Connor Onion, Anna Connelly and Michelle McMahon on the call.
Onion and Connelly will also handle Saturday's broadcast against Minnesota on FS1.
Sunday's battle vs. USC on BTN features Chris Vosters alongside Connelly.
All three contests will also be streamed at http://foxsports.com/live.
Live Stats Information
All three matches will have free live stats at http://Creighton.StatBroadcast.com.
Links will also be on the GoCreighton.com volleyball schedule page.
Scouting #13 Creighton
Creighton is ranked 13th in the Preseason AVCA Top 25 poll despite the loss of three senior All-Americans from last year's team that finished 28-6 under then first-year head coach Brian Rosen.
The Bluejays look to replace Ava Martin (4.48 kps., .324%, 0.40 saps.), Kiara Reinhardt (2.53 kps., .447%, 1.03 bps.) and Annalea Maeder (10.75 aps., 2.67 dps., 0.40 saps.) with a transfer portal haul that includes Trinity Shadd-Ceres (Wisconsin), Ayden Ames (Texas) and Katie Dalton (Kansas).
Jaya Johnson (2.40 kps., .270%) is the lone All-BIG EAST returner for the Jays, but Abbey Hayes (1.88 kps.), Eloise Brandewie (1.40 kps., .297%, 1.02 bps.) and Nora Wurtz (.368%, 0.60 saps.) also saw significant time in the front row.
Sydney Breissinger (3.10 dps., 0.36 saps.) and Saige Damrow (2.56 dps.) both spent time as CU's libero last year and are expected to anchor the Bluejay back row.
The Jays also welcome five true freshmen in Bailey Boeve, Peyton Carlson, Rayna Christianson, Cambel Drapeau and Mila Vlahovic.
Creighton averaged 14.01 kills, 13.74 digs, 2.21 blocks and 2.13 aces per set while hitting .288 a year ago. Last season marked CU's 12th consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title and 11th BIG EAST Tournament crown in the past 12 years.
Creighton was a unanimous pick to win the BIG EAST, with Johnson, Hayes and Ames earning Preseason All-BIG EAST acclaim.
Scouting #9 Purdue
Purdue is ranked ninth in the Preseason AVCA Top 25 poll after returning five starters from last season's team that went 27-7 and lost in the Elite Eight to Pittsburgh.
Second Team All-Americans Kenna Wollard (4.40 kps.) and Taylor Anderson (10.84 aps.) joined Elkhorn North product and Third Team All-American Grace Heaney (3.05 kps., .319%) on the 2026 AVCA Preseason Player of the Year Watch List. All three were also named Preseason All-Big Ten.
The Boilermaker squad also features the return of middle blocker Dior Charles (.323%; 1.15 bps.) and standout libero Ryan McAleer (3.63 dps.).
Last year's Purdue team averaged 14.00 kills, 13.14 digs, 2.49 blocks and 1.27 aces per set while hitting .290.
Series History vs. Purdue
Creighton is 2-1 all-time against Purdue, beating nationally-ranked Boilermaker squads in both 2023 (3-0 at Purdue) and 2024 (3-1 at Kansas).
Brian Rosen has never faced Purdue nor coach Dave Shondell. Shondell is 1-2 against Creighton.
Both Creighton and Purdue have been nationally-ranked in each encounter.
Creighton-Purdue Connections
Purdue senior Grace Heaney is from Omaha and led Elkhorn North High School to the state final as a senior. Heaney was a club teammate of Creighton's Ivy Leuck.
Both Creighton and Purdue reached the Elite Eight last season, coming up one win shy of their first Final Four.
Creighton and Purdue are two of 15 schools to be ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll each of the last five seasons.
Creighton and Purdue are two of 10 schools to have been ranked in each of the last 79 polls.
Creighton and Purdue are two of the nine schools to appear in each of the last three Sweet 16's and two of the 20 schools to win an NCAA Tournament match each of the past three seasons.
Creighton and Purdue are two of the eight schools to be ranked in the Top 10 of the year-end poll each of the past two seasons.
Creighton (5) and Purdue (6) have combined for 11 Sweet 16 appearances in the previous 11 seasons.
Scouting #14 Minnesota
Minnesota is ranked 14th in the Preseason Top 25 poll following a 24-10 mark last year that saw the Gophers reach the Sweet 16 before losing at Pittsburgh. Minnesota was picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten this fall.
Carly Gilk (2.31 kps., .290%) was named Preseason All-Big Ten and headlines a roster that also boasts Stella Swenson (9.77 aps.), McKenna Garr (3.35 dps.), Jordan Taylor (1.35 kps., 1.25 bps.) and Lucie Blažková (2.80 kps., 443%, 1.21 bps. at Washington State).
McKenna Wucherer (2.49 kps in 2025) was a Preseason All-Big Ten selection in 2025 but missed all of last season after a back injury. Calissa Minatee (1.71 kps., .427%) and Alex Acevedo (2.64 kps., .281%) also return after missing the bulk of last season due to injuries.
As a team, Minnesota averaged 12.82 kills, 12.88 digs, 2.65 blocks and 1.68 aces per set while hitting .283.
Series History vs. Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-2 all-time against Creighton, but the Bluejays have taken the two most recent meetings.
Creighton was swept in 2007, 2008 and 2010. In 2012 Creighton won a set over the Gophers for the first time. In 2019 Creighton owned a pair of match points in the fourth set of a Second Round NCAA Tournament match before eventually falling in five sets to a Golden Gophers team that would reach the Final Four.
Most recently Creighton won at Minnesota in five sets on Sept. 16, 2023, then swept the Golden Gophers later that season in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in Omaha.
Brian Rosen has never faced the Golden Gophers nor Keegan Cook, while Cook is 2-3 against Creighton (2-1 with Washington, 0-2 with Minnesota).
Creighton-Minnesota Connections
Creighton freshman Rayna Christianson hails from the Minneapolis suburb of Lakeville, Minn., where she attended Lakeville North High School.
Minnesota's Carly Gilk was a teammate of Creighton newcomer Ayden Ames on USA Volleyball's U21 team that won the Pan Am Cup in July. Ames was also on the 2025 team that won gold at the same event, teaming with current Gophers setter Stella Swenson.
Creighton assistant coach Adam Kessenich was a volunteer assistant coach at Minnesota in 2018-19, helping the Gophers go 54-10 with a Big Ten title in 2018 and a Final Four trip in 2019.
Creighton and Minnesota have met four times in the NCAA Tournament, the most frequent opponent for the Jays in the postseason. The home team has won all four of those battles.
Creighton and Minnesota are two of 15 schools to be ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll each of the last five seasons.
Creighton and Minnesota are two of the 20 schools to win an NCAA Tournament match each of the past three seasons.
Creighton (5) and Purdue (9) have combined for 14 Sweet 16 appearances in the previous 11 seasons.
Scouting #20 USC
Ranked 20th in the Preseason AVCA Top 25 poll, USC was picked seventh in the preseason Big Ten poll after going 25-7 last year and reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Adonia Faumuina (2.52 kps.) and Abigail Mullen (2.87 kps., 0.45 saps.) were both named to the All-Big Ten Preseason Team.
Others to keep an eye on are Leah Ford (1.67 kps., .378%, 1.35 bps.), London Wijay (3.48 kps., .265%) and La Vista native Mia Tvrdy (2.30 kps., 1.13 bps.).
The Women of Troy averaged 13.69 kills, 13.37 digs, 2.76 blocks and 1.32 aces per set last season while hitting .259.
Series History vs. USC
USC leads the all-time series with Creighton by a 7-4 count, but the Bluejays have won four of the past five meetings. All 11 previous meetings have come in the last 12 years.
The Women of Troy are 3-2 on neutral floors against CU, but the Jays have won the past two such meetings at Kentucky in 2021 and at UNI in 2019.
Brian Rosen is 0-1 all-time against the Women of Troy, and 0-1 against Brad Keller. Keller is 1-3 against Creighton.
Creighton-USC Connections
USC's Mia Tvrdy is from La Vista, Neb., and played for Premier Nebraska Volleyball Club.
USC's Paisley Douglas is from Omaha and was a high school teammate of Creighton's Ivy Leuck, helping Skutt Catholic High School to a pair of state titles.
USC's Abigail Mullen was an alternate on USA Volleyball's U21 team that won the Pan Am Cup. Creighton newcomer Ayden Ames played on that team.
Sunday will mark the 12th meeting between Creighton and USC since 2014, which is quite a lot for two teams more than 1,500 miles apart who aren't league rivals. Including Sunday's battle in Sioux Falls, those 12 meetings will have taken place in six different cities and five different states: Los Angeles, Calif. (3x), Omaha, Neb. (3x), Lexington, Ky. (2x), Cedar Falls, Iowa (2x), San Diego, Calif. (1x), and now Sioux Falls, S.D. (1x).
Creighton and USC are two of 15 schools to be ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll each of the last five seasons.
Creighton Coaches
Brian Rosen enters his second season as Creighton head coach, where his 28-6 record with the Bluejays moves his career mark to 73-23 after four seasons.
Rosen was named the fourth head coach in modern Creighton Volleyball history on April 6, 2025, as he was promoted following the departure of 22-year head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. He became the BIG EAST's first rookie head coach since 2014 to win 20+ matches in his first year in the league, the only rookie head coach in league history to win multiple NCAA Tournament matches, and the first new coach to win 28+ matches in his first season.
Named the 2024 AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year, Rosen served as a Creighton assistant from 2022-24, during which time CU went 88-13, swept the BIG EAST regular-season and tournament tiles each fall, and defeated 10 Top 25 opponents.
Rosen led Creighton to the BIG EAST regular-season and Tournament titles in 2025 and a return to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
The 2008 South Carolina grad went 45-17 as head coach at Division II Nova Southeastern from 2019-21, though the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19 without playing a match.
Rosen was assisted by Angie Oxley Behrens, Adam Kessenich and Izzy Ashburn.
Last Season Summary
Creighton went 28-6 last season in Brian Rosen's first season at the helm, dropping just four sets while going 18-0 against conference foes en route to BIG EAST regular-season and BIG EAST Tournament titles.
The Jays defeated Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa and No. 8 Arizona State in the NCAA Tournament to reach its second straight Elite Eight, where it was eliminated by eventual runner-up Kentucky.
BIG EAST Player of the Year Ava Martin (4.48 kps., 0.40 saps.) and Kiara Reinhardt (2.53 kps., 1.03 bps., .447%) were both named Second Team All-Americans and became the first teammates ever selected in the first round of the same Major League Volleyball Draft, while BIG EAST Setter of the Year Annalea Maeder (10.75 aps., 0.40 saps.) was chosen as a Third Team All-American.
Exhibition Season Recap
Creighton split a pair of exhibition matches, defeating South Dakota 4-1 before losing at No. 15 Kansas, 3-2.
The Bluejays played their whole roster in both matches, as 14 different women started at least one set against the Coyotes and 12 women started at set at Kansas. By comparison, USD started 14 different women against CU, while KU rolled out the same lineup in four sets and made just one change in the other.
With A Win...
With a win on Friday...
- Creighton would improve to 22-11 in season-opening matches since restarting its program in 1994, including a 15-3 mark since 2009.
- Creighton would improve to 3-4 in season-openers against Top 25 teams, including a 3-1 mark on neutral floors.
- Creighton would improve to 34-95 all-time against Top 25 teams, and 13-44 against Top 10 opponents.
- Creighton would defeat a ranked team for the 12th straight season.
- Creighton would improve to 25-4 in its last 29 neutral site matches.
- Creighton would improve its record in the all-time series against Purdue to 3-1, with the Boilermakers being ranked in the top 20 of each encounter.
Milestone Watch
Creighton's student-athletes are approaching all sorts of milestones as the 2026 season gets underway.
Katie Dalton enters this weekend with 897 career assists and 478 digs, all amassed with Kansas.
Eloise Brandewie owns 463 kills in her career and is 37 shy of 500.
Sydney Breissinger owns 881 career digs and is 19 shy of 900.
Jaya Johnson boasts 474 career kills and is 26 short of 500. She's also nine digs away from 200.
Ayden Ames next kill will be the 300th of her career. Ames is also three blocks away from 200 in her career.
As a team, Creighton owns 49,850 kills since restarting its program in 1994 and could reach the 50,000 mark with 150 this weekend in Sioux Falls.
Hello World!
Three transfers (Ayden Ames, Katie Dalton, Trinity Shadd-Ceres) and five Bluejay true freshmen (Bailey Boeve, Peyton Carlson, Rayna Christianson, Cambel Drapeau, Mila Vlahovic) could make their Creighton regular-season debuts this weekend.
Below is the current Creighton players and how they performed in their regular-season collegiate debuts (as well as at previous schools in the cases of transfers Ames, Dalton, Shadd-Ceres, Eloise Brandewie, Saige Damrow and Ivy Leuck).
Records for a Bluejay debut can be found at the bottom of page three. Interestingly, the career leaders or career runners-up for Creighton Volleyball in digs (Brittany Witt and Kate Elman), aces (Molly Moran), kills (Jaali Winters) and blocks (Kelli Browning) also own the CU record or are second for that same category for a Bluejay debut.
Year Name SP K E TA Pct. A SA DIG TB
2024 Jaya Johnson 3 11 1 19 .526 0 0 5 0
2025 E. Brandewie• 3 5 0 11 .455 1 0 1 2
2023 Eloise Brandewie$ 3 2 2 9 000 0 0 1 3
2024 Ayden Ames@• 4 2 2 8 .000 3 0 3 1
2024 T. Shadd-Ceres!• 4 2 3 15 -.067 0 0 2 1
2025 Abbey Hayes 2 1 3 7 -.286 0 2 4 0
2023 Ava TeStrake 2 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 0 0
2023 Sydney Breissinger 3 0 0 0 --- 1 0 7 0
2023 Ivy Leuck% 3 0 1 1 -1.000 8 0 1 0
2023 Saige Damrow# 3 0 0 0 --- 5 0 4 0
2024 Nora Wurtz• 3 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0 0
2025 Saige Damrow 3 0 1 1 -1.000 0 1 15 0
2025 Ivy Leuck 3 0 1 1 -1.000 8 0 1 0
2025 Ashlyn Paymal 1 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0 0
2022 Katie Dalton^ 1 0 0 0 --- 1 0 0 0
#Damrow's stats from debut at Wisconsin in 2023
$Brandewie's stats from debut at Ohio State in 2023
%Leuck's stats from debut at Omaha in 2023
!Shadd-Ceres' stats from debut at Wisconsin in 2024
@Ames' stats from debut at Texas in 2024
^Dalton's stats from debut at Kansas in 2022
Season Opening History
Creighton is 21-11 in season-opening matches since restarting the program in 1994, and 0-1 under Brian Rosen. CU is 14-3 in its last 17 season lid-lifters.
Since restarting its program in 1994, Creighton is 14-3 in season-openers that take place on a neutral floor, 21-11 in its first neutral-site match of a season, and 20-12 in its first match away from home of a season.
Opening Day
Creighton is 2-4 all-time when opening the season against a Top 25 team, but is 2-1 when that match is on a neutral floor.
The Jays beat No. 13 BYU (3-1) in the 2013 opener at Bowling Green, and topped No. 5 Kentucky (3-2) in the 2018 lid-lifter at USC.
Creighton vs. Top 25 teams in Season Openers
Date CU Rank Opp. Rank Result
09/01/98 -- at #5 Nebraska L 0-3
08/29/08 -- #16 Minnesota L 1-3
08/30/13 25 vs. #13 BYU W 3-1
08/24/18 13 vs. #5 Kentucky W 3-2
08/30/19 18 at #2 Nebraska L 1-3
08/26/25 12 vs. #2 Penn State L 0-3
08/28/26 13 vs. #9 Purdue 6 p.m.
Preseason Ranking
Creighton was ranked 13th in the AVCA preseason poll on Aug. 10th. It's the 12th time in the past 14 years that the Jays have been ranked in the preseason, and fifth season in a row.
The No. 13 slotting is tied for the fourth-best preseason mark in program history.
Creighton is one of 15 schools to be ranked in every preseason Top 25 poll since 2022, a list featuring Baylor, BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, USC, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin. Of note, Creighton is the nation's only program that was nationally-ranked in the preseason polls in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and improved its position in the year-end poll.
Over the previous 18 seasons from 2008-25, 333-of-450 teams (74.0 percent) have been in both the preseason and final polls. From 2008-25, all but 42 teams (of 450) named in the preseason AVCA Top 25 poll would go on to reach the NCAA Tournament (90.7 percent).
This year marks the 15th straight season that CU has been ranked at least one week, extending a program record.
Year Preseason Rank Final W-L Final Rank
2013 25th 23-9 NR
2014 23rd 25-9 NR
2016 18th 27-9 9th
2017 9th 26-7 16th
2018 13th 29-5 13th
2019 18th 25-6 16th
2020 16th 12-4 NR
2022 18th 27-5 21st
2023 18th 29-5 15th
2024 12th 32-3 5th
2025 12th 28-6 10th
2026 13th TBD TBD
156 Weeks As A Ranked Team
Creighton is ranked 13th in the preseason AVCA poll, the 156th time in program history it's been ranked. That's 37th-most of all programs in NCAA history.
All 140 rankings have occurred since 2012.
The Bluejays are one of 10 schools (along with Baylor, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pitt, Purdue, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin) to have been ranked each of the last 79 polls.
Creighton's 79 weeks in a row being ranked dates began on Sept. 6, 2021 and sets a program-record, breaking the previous-high of 64 from Oct. 31, 2016 to March 15, 2021.
Creighton is one of eight schools (Creighton, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Stanford, Wisconsin) to be in the Top 10 of the year-end poll in both 2024 and 2025.
Rank, Rank, Rank
Creighton will open the season this weekend with three straight matches against nationally-ranked teams.
It's the fourth time the Jays have opened the season with three consecutive Top 25 foes, also doing so in 1998 (going 0-3), 2019 (going 1-2 with a win over No. 12 Kentucky) and 2025 (going 1-2 with a win over No. 14 Kansas).
However, this will be the first time that CU will play three matches against Top 25 opponents in the same weekend to open the season, or on any weekend in program history.
When you factor in that Creighton closed last season with matches against No. 8 Arizona State and No. 2 Kentucky, this marks the second time ever that Creighton will have played five straight matches against ranked foes. CU's final two matches in 2024 were against No. 13 Texas and No. 2 Penn State before opening 2025 against No. 2 Penn State, No. 5 Texas and No. 14 Kansas.
Top 10 Wins
Creighton owns 12 Top 10 wins in program history, all of which have taken place in the previous 11 seasons.
All but one of those Top 10 wins have taken place away from home, including a victory over No. 8 Arizona State in last year's Sweet 16.
Creighton owns four top-five wins in program history, and all of those were away from home.
The highest-ranked teams that Creighton has ever beaten was No. 3 Washington (8/26/17) and No. 3 Kentucky (9/4/21).
Looking ahead to this weekend, Creighton is 2-1 all-time against teams ranked 9th, 2-2 all-time against teams ranked 14th, and 1-3 all-time against teams ranked 20th. The Jays are 3-3 when ranked 13th.
Creighton's Top 10 Wins
Date Opponent Score
09/05/15 vs. #10 Kentucky (at UNI) W 3-1
12/02/16 at #4 Kansas W 3-2
08/26/17 at #3 Washington W 3-1
09/09/17 at #7 Kansas W 3-0
08/24/18 vs. #5 Kentucky (at USC) W 3-2
10/12/19 at #10 Marquette W 3-2
11/09/19 #9 Marquette W 3-1
09/04/21 at #3 Kentucky W 3-0
09/16/23 at #9 Minnesota W 3-2
09/20/24 vs. #6 Purdue (at Kansas) W 3-1
09/21/24 at #10 Kansas W 3-0
12/11/25 vs. #8 Arizona State (at Kentucky) W 3-1
Top 25 History
Creighton is 259-54 all-time when playing as a ranked team, and also 28-34 all-time against ranked teams when ranked itself. That mark is 4-4 when both Creighton and its opponent are ranked in the top 10.
Since the start of the 2012 season, 49 of Creighton's 83 losses have come against ranked teams. In that same period, Creighton is 339-34 against unranked teams. Creighton has won all but three of its past 135 home matches over unranked teams and all but 13 of its last 200 matches at all sites against unranked teams.
Ranked vs. Ranked (CU is 28-34)
Home: 11-11 Away: 8-14 Neutral: 9-9
Date Winner Loser CU Score
11/19/12 #11 Minnesota #21 Creighton 1-3
08/30/13 #25 Creighton #13 BYU 3-1
09/14/13 #11 UCLA #24 Creighton 1-3
09/16/13 #7 Hawaii #23 Creighton 2-3
08/30/14 #22 Kansas #23 Creighton 1-3
09/03/16 #23 Kentucky #22 Creighton 0-3
12/02/16 #21 Creighton #4 Kansas 3-2
12/09/16 #21 Creighton #17 Michigan 3-2
12/10/16 #5 Texas #21 Creighton 0-3
08/26/17 #9 Creighton #3 Washington 3-1
09/01/17 #7 Creighton #13 Kentucky 3-0
09/02/17 #18 USC #7 Creighton 0-3
09/08/17 #17 Purdue #9 Creighton 1-3
09/09/17 #9 Creighton #7 Kansas 3-0
09/16/17 #19 Iowa State #8 Creighton 2-3
12/12/17 #12 Michigan St. #15 Creighton 1-3
08/24/18 #13 Creighton #5 Kentucky 3-2
08/25/18 #10 USC #13 Creighton 2-3
09/06/18 #7 Nebraska #14 Creighton 2-3
09/15/18 #8 Illinois #10 Creighton 1-3
09/23/18 #10 Creighton #21 Marquette 3-0
10/26/18 #10 Creighton #18 Marquette 3-1
11/24/18 #9 Creighton #16 Marquette 3-1
12/01/18 #22 Washington #9 Creighton 0-3
08/30/19 #2 Nebraska #18 Creighton 1-3
08/31/19 #20 Baylor #18 Creighton 0-3
09/06/19 #23 Creighton #12 Kentucky 3-1
09/07/19 #23 Creighton #15 USC 3-1
09/14/19 #12 Washington #17 Creighton 1-3
10/12/19 #13 Creighton #10 Marquette 3-2
11/22/19 #12 Creighton #9 Marquette 3-1
12/07/19 #7 Minnesota #15 Creighton 2-3
02/05/21 #19 Creighton #25 Marquette 3-2
02/06/21 #25 Marquette #19 Creighton 0-3
09/08/21 #3 Nebraska #19 Creighton 0-3
09/02/22 #17 Creighton #25 USC 3-1
09/03/22 #16 Kentucky #17 Creighton 1-3
09/07/22 #2 Nebraska #17 Creighton 2-3
10/14/22 #21 Creighton #16 Marquette 3-2
11/19/22 #16 Marquette #11 Creighton 0-3
11/26/22 #15 Creighton #14 Marquette 3-2
08/26/23 #18 Creighton #16 Purdue 3-0
09/06/23 #4 Nebraska #16 Creighton 1-3
09/16/23 #14 Creighton #9 Minnesota 3-2
11/05/23 #17 Creighton #25 Marquette 3-0
12/07/23 #7 Louisville #17 Creighton 2-3
09/05/24 #11 Creighton #20 USC 3-1
09/10/24 #5 Nebraska #9 Creighton 2-3
09/15/24 #4 Louisville #9 Creighton 2-3
09/20/24 #9 Creighton #6 Purdue 3-1
09/21/24 #9 Creighton #10 Kansas 3-0
12/13/24 #6 Creighton #13 Texas 3-1
12/15/24 #2 Penn State #6 Creighton 2-3
08/23/25 #2 Penn State #12 Creighton L 0-3
08/29/25 #5 Texas #12 Creighton L 0-3
08/31/25 #12 Creighton #14 Kansas W 3-2
09/07/25 #22 USC #13 Creighton L 0-3
09/12/25 #4 Louisville #13 Creighton L 1-3
09/16/25 #1 Nebraska #18 Creighton L 2-3
09/21/25 #18 Creighton #17 Kansas W 3-0
12/11/25 #11 Creighton #8 Arizona State W 3-1
12/13/25 #2 Kentucky #11 Creighton L 0-3
08/28/26 #9 Purdue vs. #13 Creighton 6 pm
08/29/26 #13 Creighton vs. #14 Minnesota 4 pm
08/30/26 #13 Creighton vs. #20 USC 12 pm
Against Ranked Foes
After a total of three top-25 wins from 1994-2014, Creighton has earned at least one top-25 win each of the previous 11 seasons (2015-25).
Creighton is 33-95 all-time against ranked teams, and 3-6 under Brian Rosen.
The highest ranked teams that Creighton has ever beaten at any site were No. 3 Washington (8/26/17 in Seattle) and No. 3 Kentucky (9/4/21 in Lexington). CU's highest-ranked opponent it has defeated at home was a 3-1 win over then-No. 9 Marquette on Nov. 22, 2019. The highest-ranked team CU has defeated under Rosen was No. 8 Arizona State (W 3-1) on Dec. 11, 2025 in Lexington, Ky., in the Sweet 16.
Last year was the ninth season that CU owned multiple Top-25 victories, and fourth in a row with three Top 25 wins or more. The Jays beat three Top 25 teams in 2017, 2022, 2023 and 2025, and a record four in 2018, 2019 and 2024.
Put It In Neutral
Creighton went 5-2 on neutral floors last season (including wins over #8 Arizona State and #14 Kansas), continuing a trend of playing well at neutral sites.
The Bluejays are 24-4 in the previous five seasons on neutral floors, including a 7-0 mark in 2021, a 4-0 record in 2022, a 5-2 record in 2023, a 4-0 record in 2024 and a 4-2 mark in 2025.
Included in that stretch are neutral-site wins over USC (2021), Northern Iowa (2021 and 2024), Iowa State (2022 & 2023), Florida State (2022), Kansas State (2022), Loyola Chicago (2023), High Point (2023), St. John's (2023), Rice (2024), Purdue (2024), Texas (2024), Kansas (2025) and Arizona State (2025).
Some Fab Freshmen To Start
Creighton has started 15 different true freshmen in its season opener since 2009, and 19 such players since 2000.
Since 2000, the only true freshmen to start CU's season-opener have been Brittany Coleman (2003), Carolyn Decker (2004), Korie Lebeda (2005), Allie Oelke (2007), Brooke Boggs (2009), Heather Thorson (2009), Julianne Mandolfo (2010), Katie Neisler (2011), Michelle Sicner (2011), Melanie Jereb (2012), Ashley Jansen (2012), Jess Bird (2013), Jaali Winters (2015), Naomi Hickman (2017), Emily Bressman (2019), Kiara Reinhardt (2020), Kendra Wait (2021), Norah Sis (2021) and Sky McCune (2022), with Coleman, Lebeda and Wait the only freshmen to start at setter in the season-opener.
In addition, CU also started redshirt freshmen Lauren Smith (2013) and Brittany Lawrence (2015), as well as transfers Maggie Baumert (2014), Lydia Dimke (2016), Madelyn Cole (2018), Erica Kostelac (2019), Mahina Pua'a (2020), Ellie Bichelmeyer (2023), Elise Goetzinger (2024). Eloise Brandewie (2025) and Annalea Maeder (2025) in season-openers.
Eleven of those women (Martin, Sis, Wait, Reinhardt, Coleman, Decker, Lebeda, Oelke, Mandolfo, Sicner and Jereb) went on to land a spot on the MVC or BIG EAST's All-Freshman Team (though the BIG EAST had no such team from 2013-19).
Dimke (2016), Winters (2018), Sis (2022), Wait (2023, 2024) and Martin (2025) would all end up being named BIG EAST Player of the Year, while Winters (2015), Davis (2019), Sis (2021) and Martin (2022) would go on to be named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.
Production Returns
Creighton returns 9-of-17 letterwinners to the court from last season, including three starters.
From last year's team, Ava Martin, Kiara Reinhardt, Annalea Maeder, Sky McCune, Alivia Hausmann, Sophia Wendlick, Destiny Ndam-Simpson and Emersen Strain are not back.
All told, of the seven categories listed below, Creighton returns 316.2 of a possible 700% back (45.2 percent), the third-smallest amount returning in the past 25 seasons behind only 2009 and 2025.
Below is a breakdown of the production that is back:
Stat Returners Departures
Digs 993 (61.3%) 628 (38.7%)
Aces 142 (56.6%) 109 (43.4%)
Blocks 144 (55.2%) 117 (44.8%)
Matches Started 92 (45.1%) 112 (54.9%)
Points 964 (44.5%) 1201 (55.5%)
Kills 678 (41.0%) 975 (59.0%)
Assists 192 (12.5%) 1340 (87.5%)
One Tough Schedule
Of Creighton's 12 non-conference matches, six are against ranked teams and four others against programs that received votes in the preseason AVCA Top 25 poll.
All 12 non-conference teams on Creighton's schedule finished the 2025 campaign with a top-44 RPI. That should come as no surprise, as Creighton faced the second-most difficult schedule (all matches) last season.
The Gauntlet
Creighton played the nation's second-toughest schedule, and also ranked among the national leaders in Top 50 wins and matches vs. Top 50 opponents in 2025.
Creighton was 18-0 (including the league tournament) against the BIG EAST Conference (the nation's #5 league).
Most RPI Top 50 Wins in 2025
Top 50 W's School
18 Nebraska
17 Arizona State
15 Creighton, Pittsburgh
14 Wisconsin
Most RPI Top 50 Matches in 2025
Top 50 MP's School
21 Creighton, Arizona State, Kansas
20 Pittsburgh
19 Nebraska, Wisconsin, TCU, Utah
Great Faces, Great Places
Creighton is playing its first volleyball matches at the Sanford Pentagon this weekend, returning to the Mount Rushmore State for the first time to play any matches in South Dakota since 2021.
Since restarting volleyball in 1994, Creighton is 1-1 all-time in the state of South Dakota. The Bluejays lost in four sets in Brookings at South Dakota State on Sept. 19, 2006 and pulled a reverse sweep in Vermillion to top South Dakota on Jan. 31, 2021.
Creighton Volleyball best-known alum to hail from South Dakota is Taryn Kloth, who starred for the Jays from 2015-18. Kloth, who got married last summer and now goes by Taryn Brasher, owned 1,427 kills for the Bluejays and was an AVCA All-American in 2016 and 2018. She became Creighton's first female Olympian in 2024 in Paris, where she tied for ninth place in Beach Volleyball alongside Kristen Nuss.
Advance In The Dance
Creighton is one of nine schools to appear in the Sweet 16 in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments (2023-25), joining Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin.
Creighton is one of six schools to be in the Elite Eight in both 2024 and 2025, a list that features Creighton, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Stanford and Wisconsin.
Creighton has won a First Round match in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons (2023-25). Nationally, only 20 schools have done that: Arizona State, Baylor, Creighton, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Marquette, Miami (Fla.), Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, SMU, Stanford, TCU, Texas, USC and Wisconsin.
How Sweet It Is
Creighton has made five Sweet 16s, all of which have come in the 11 seasons from 2015-25. Creighton is one of 46 schools to have made a Sweet 16 since 2015, but only 16 of those teams have been there five times or more in that span.
Here's that list, which includes CU's foes on Friday (Purdue) and Saturday (Minnesota).
Most Sweet 16s, Last 11 Seasons (2015-25)
Sweet 16s School
11 Nebraska
11 Texas
11 Wisconsin
9 Minnesota
9 Penn State
8 Florida
8 Kentucky
8 Stanford
7 Louisville
6 BYU
6 Pittsburgh
6 Purdue
6 Washington
5 Creighton
5 Ohio State
5 Oregon
Replacing Three AVCA All-Americans
Creighton Volleyball had three seniors earn All-America honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association last season, as Ava Martin and Kiara Reinhardt picked up Second Team honors, and Annalea Maeder was a Third Team choice.
Creighton's three honorees were tied for fifth-most in the nation, trailing only the four women chosen from Kentucky, Nebraska, SMU and Texas A&M.
Last year marked the 14th straight season that Creighton has had at least one All-American, with multiple All-Americans in 10 of the previous 11 campaigns. The only schools with multiple All-Americans each of the past five years are now Creighton, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Stanford and Wisconsin.
Both Martin and Reinhardt were selected in the Major League Volleyball Draft on Nov. 24, 2025. Martin was the second overall section by the Atlanta Vibe, while Reinhardt was selected No. 8 overall in the first round by the Omaha Supernovas. The selections made Creighton the first school in league history to have two picks in the First Round of the same draft.
This is the second straight season the Jays have had to replace three or more All-Americans, as the 2025 Creighton squad that reached the Elite Eight had to replace Kendra Wait, Norah Sis, Maddy Bilinovic and Elise Goetzinger from its 2024 team that also made the Elite Eight.
Golden Girls
Creighton junior Ayden Ames spent the summer winning a second straight Pan American Cup Gold Medal with USA Volleyball's U21 team and starting three of the team's five matches, including the final. Ames had 18 kills in 35 swings and hit .400 in the four matches she appeared in.
Ames will reunite with a few former teammates this weekend in Sioux Falls. Minnesota's Carly Gilk was her teammate on the 2026 squad, Minnesota's Stella Swenson was her teammate on the 2025 squad, and USC's Abigail Mullen was an alternate on the 2025 team.
Winners Win
Creighton owns 268 wins over the previous 10 seasons, which coincides with the start of the 2016 season.
That ranks fourth-most nationally, and among some of the most storied programs in all the land. CU is also fifth in win percentage in the last decade.
Previous 10 Seasons (2016-25)
Sorted By Wins Sorted By Win Percentage
1. 287 Nebraska 1. .874 Texas 256-37
2. 283 Pittsburgh 2. .872 Nebraska 287-42
3. 278 Western Kentucky 3. .8634 Western Kentucky 278-44
4. 268 Creighton 4. .8628 Pittsburgh 283-45
5. 261 Wisconsin 5. .838 Creighton 268-52
6. 256 Texas 6. .8312 Wisconsin 261-53
7. 255 Stanford 7. .8311 BYU 251-51
8. 253 Stephen F. Austin 8. .825 Stanford 255-54
9. 251 BYU 9. .813 Kentucky 248-57
10. 248 Kentucky 10. .797 Dayton 244-62
No Losers Here
Creighton has been as good as anyone at avoiding losses in recent seasons.
Creighton and Pittsburgh are the nation's only teams to lose six times or less in the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Creighton is also the only school nationally who have won 25 matches or more in every season between 2014-25 (not counting the 2020 COVID-19 year, when CU only played 16 times).
Creighton is one three schools to win 27 matches or more each of the last five seasons (2021-25), joining Pittsburgh and Western Kentucky.
Nothing Mid-Major About It
There's nothing mid-major about the Creighton Volleyball program.
Since 2012, Creighton ranks fourth nationally with 372 victories. The only teams with more wins in those 14 seasons were Western Kentucky (400), Nebraska (394) and Penn State (375). Just behind CU is Texas (370) and Stanford (368).
In that time, Creighton has made five Sweet 16's and three Elite Eights while leading the country with both 13 regular-season conference titles and 12 league tournament titles,
Creighton is the only Volleyball program in BIG EAST history to ever reach the Elite Eight, and has now done it three times (2016, 2024 and 2025).
14 Straight NCAA's
Creighton Volleyball has made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 14 seasons. They are the first women's team in any sport at Creighton to make 14 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
The only other sport in Creighton history to make even 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances is the men's soccer program, which qualified in 17 straight seasons from 1992-2008.
Creighton is one of seven teams nationally to have appeared in each of the last 14 NCAA Tournaments (2012-25). That group features BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State and Texas.
How Elite Are We?
Creighton and UCLA are the nation's only schools to reach the Elite Eight in women's volleyball (2024 and 2025), women's basketball (2021), men's basketball (2022) and men's soccer (2022) since the start of the 2021-22 academic year.
Creighton, UCLA and Kentucky are the nation's only schools to reach the Sweet 16 in those same sports since the start of the 2021-22 academic year.
Survival of the Fittest
Since the move to rally scoring in 2001, Creighton has won 10 matches when surviving a match point and lost four contests when holding a match point of its own.
Surviving Match Points Since 2001
Date Opponent MP(s) Faced Final Set 5
09/27/02 Evansville 13-14, 14-15 19-17
08/30/03 vs. McNeese State 13-14, 15-16 18-16
10/10/03 Wichita State 13-14 16-14
10/13/06 at Wichita State 12-14, 13-14, 14-15 17-15
09/11/07 at Drake 13-14, 14-15 17-15
08/26/11 vs. UTSA 12-14, 13-14 16-14
11/16/12 at Wichita State 13-14 16-14
09/20/15 Kansas State 23-24 (4th set) 15-13
11/20/15 at Georgetown 23-24, 26-27 (4th set) 15-7
08/24/18 vs. #5 Kentucky 16-15, 19-18 22-20
Tournament Tested
Creighton has played multiple matches in 30 tournaments since the start of the 2021 calendar year, and won 20 of them.
Keep in mind that when Kirsten Bernthal Booth was hired in 2003, Creighton had been 17-33 in 15 regular-season tournaments all-time, with just one tournament title (the 2000 Iowa State Heritage Classic).
CU's Multi-Match Tournaments Since Jan. 1, 2021
Year Event CU Record (Place)
2021 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2021 Mizzou Invitational 3-0 (1st)
2021 Bluegrass Battle 3-0 (1st)
2021 Bluejay Invitational 3-0 (1st)
2021 Shocker Volleyball Classic 3-0 (1st)
2021 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2021 NCAA Tournament 1-1 (T-17th)
2022 Rumble in the Rockies 3-0 (1st)
2022 Bluejay Invitational 2-1 (2nd)
2022 Omaha Invitational 2-0 (1st)
2022 Rice adidas Invitational 1-1 (2nd)
2022 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2023 Reamer Club Xtra Special Premier 2-1 (1st)
2023 Bluejay Invitational 3-0 (1st)
2023 MN Hospitality Omaha Challenge 2-0 (1st)
2023 Diet Coke Challenge 2-0 (1st)
2023 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2023 NCAA Tournament 2-1 (T-9th)
2024 Bluejay Invitational 3-0 (1st)
2024 Creighton Classic 2-0 (1st)
2024 Cardinal Classic 2-1 (2nd)
2024 Jayhawk Classic 2-0 (1st)
2024 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2024 NCAA Tournament 3-1 (T-5th)
2025 Opening Spike Classic 1-1 (T-2nd)
2025 Trojan Invitational 2-1 (2nd)
2025 Bluejay Invitational 2-1 (2nd)
2025 Creighton Classic 2-0 (1st)
2025 BIG EAST Tournament 2-0 (1st)
2025 NCAA Tournament 3-1 (T-5th)
Jays Earn Tourney Titles
Creighton has won at least one tournament each of the previous 14 seasons, a streak that dates to 2012.
During that span, the Bluejays have won 36 tournament titles, not to mention 13 regular-season league crowns.
Creighton has also now won at least one home tournament each of the last nine seasons.
Creighton's Tournament Titles Since 2012
Year Titles Won Tourney Hosts
2012 3 USF, UNC, MVC
2013 1 BGSU
2014 1 CU, BIG EAST
2015 1 BIG EAST
2016 1 BIG EAST
2017 4 WASH, CU, KU, BIG EAST
2018 3 SMU, CU, BIG EAST
2019 2 UNI, CU
2020 1 BIG EAST
2021 5 MIZZ, UK, CU, WSU, BIG EAST
2022 3 WYO, UNO, BIG EAST
2023 5 Purdue, CU, UNO, MINN, BIG EAST
2024 4 CU, CU, KU, BIG EAST
2025 2 CU, BIG EAST
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 440-11 (.976) all-time when leading a match 2-0, and 161-1 (.994) all-time at D.J. Sokol Arena when up 2-0 at the break.
Per RichKern.com, Division I teams that won the first two sets won 94.9 percent of their matches from 2014-23.
Creighton has won 127 matches in a row when taking a 2-0 lead.
Conversely, the Jays are 17-212 (.074) all-time when trailing a match 0-2. Those 17 comebacks in program history from down 0-2 are listed below.
Date Opponent Sets 3-5 scores Coach
09/19/97 at Bradley 15-11, 15-13, 15-8 Wallace
10/01/99 at Drake 15-6, 17-15, 15-11 Wallace
09/03/04 vs. Montana 30-20, 30-21, 15-11 Booth
10/15/04 at Bradley 30-22, 30-23, 15-11 Booth
10/15/05 at So. Illinois 30-25, 30-24, 15-8 Booth
09/21/07 at No. Iowa 31-29, 30-26, 15-12 Booth
11/16/12 at Wichita St. 25-16, 25-20, 16-14 Booth
09/05/14 vs. No. Iowa 25-16, 25-22, 15-5 Booth
11/08/14 at Butler 25-16, 25-20, 15-13 Booth
09/20/15 Kansas State 25-23, 26-24, 15-13 Booth
10/09/15 DePaul 25-21, 25-12, 15-11 Booth
11/20/15 at Georgetown 30-28, 26-24, 15-7 Booth
10/13/17 Butler 25-21, 25-23, 15-9 Booth
10/18/18 Xavier 25-17, 25-17, 15-13 Booth
01/31/21 at So. Dakota 25-20, 25-23, 15-7 Booth
10/07/22 at UConn 25-15, 25-12, 15-13 Booth
10/14/22 #16 Marquette 25-19, 25-16, 15-8 Booth
Set 1 Result A Strong Indicator
Creighton has gone 188-6 in its last 194 matches at all sites when winning the first set, compared to an 18-27 record in that same span when dropping the opener.
Creighton has gone 219-4 (.982) in its last 223 matches against unranked foes when winning the opening set.
Per RichKern.com, Division I teams that lost the first set won just 20.3 percent of their matches from 2014-23.
Since Aug. 29, 2010, Creighton has gone 181-6 in its last 187 home matches when taking a 1-0 lead, losing only to Pacific (Sept. 12, 2015), No. 7 Nebraska (Sept. 6, 2018), South Dakota (Jan. 29, 2021), No. 16 Kentucky (Sept. 3, 2022), Auburn (Dec. 2, 2022) and No. 4 Louisville (Sept. 12, 2025).
The Jays have won their last 45 of their last 46 home matches following a first set victory.
Champions Among Champions
Since the start of the 2012 season, Creighton, and Western Kentucky are the nation's only schools to have won 13 or more conference regular-season titles. All but three of Creighton's 12 crowns were outright titles, whereas WKU has shared six championships.
Creighton has also won 12 conference tournament titles since 2012, the most in the nation.
Most Conference Titles 2012-2025
Regular-Season League Tournament
13 (3 shared) Creighton 12 Creighton
13 (6) Western Kentucky 11 Western Kentucky
12 (1) Fairfield 10 Fairfield
11 (1) Texas
12 Straight BIG EAST Regular-Season Titles
Creighton (2014-25) is the first team in BIG EAST volleyball history to win 12 straight regular-season titles. The previous record had been seven by Notre Dame from 1999-2005.
The Bluejay volleyball team is also the first Creighton program in any sport to win more than five straight league titles, more than doubling the previous high of five in a row by the men's soccer program (1992-96) in the MVC.
The only other volleyball team nationally with an active streak of more than six straight regular-season league titles is Kentucky, which won its ninth consecutive SEC crown last year.
Creighton's 12 straight regular-season titles rank third-longest in NCAA history, trailing only Florida's 18 straight SEC titles from 1991-2008 and Hawaii's 16 consecutive WAC crowns from 1996-2011.
Home Sweet Home
Creighton is entering its 14th season as a member of the BIG EAST since joining the league in the summer of 2013.
Since then, the Bluejays are 120-4 in home matches against BIG EAST teams (109-3 in the regular-season, 11-1 in the BIG EAST Tournament).
Since the start of the 2015 season, Creighton is 104-1 inside D.J. Sokol Arena against BIG EAST teams, which includes a 94-1 mark in league play and a 10-0 mark in the conference tournament. The only setback (on Feb. 6, 2021 vs. Marquette) was played as a non-conference match, only to be flipped to a league contest 19 days later. Creighton has won 54 straight matches against BIG EAST opposition at home.
Put another way, since enrolling at Creighton in the fall of 2023, fourth-year Bluejay seniors Sydney Breissinger, Jaya Johnson and Ava TeStrake are 32-0 in home matches against BIG EAST teams, and 96-10 in sets.
Since the start of the 2023 season, Creighton has won 84-of-88 sets at home against BIG EAST teams, dropping only the third set on Oct. 1, 2024 to Marquette, the second and third sets to Marquette on Nov. 1, 2025, and the second set to Villanova on Nov. 7, 2025.
BIG EAST'S Best
Since the reconfiguration of the BIG EAST in the summer of 2013, Creighton, Marquette and St. John's are the only teams to win any sort of BIG EAST volleyball title.
Creighton owns 12 regular-season titles (3 shared) in that time, while Marquette owns four regular-season (3 shared) crowns.
As it relates to BIG EAST Tournament titles, Creighton has won 11, Marquette one and St. John's one since 2013.
Below is a look at the record of each BIG EAST team since league realignment in 2013:
BIG EAST VB Standings, 2013 - 2025
BIG EAST only All matches
Team (NCAA Bids) W L W L
Creighton (13) 204 16 343 79
Marquette (12) 180 37 302 104
Xavier (1) 130 88 205 175
Villanova (1) 111 109 208 171
St. John's (1) 110 110 232 180
Butler 108 112 190 193
Seton Hall (1) 86 133 173 207
DePaul 72 148 163 214
Georgetown 51 161 125 236
Connecticut# 50 46 98 71
Providence* 33 171 124 226
*Providence rejoined the league for volleyball in 2014 and
its 2013 overall record (12-20) is not included above.
#Connecticut rejoined the league in 2020 and
its record from 2013-19 (96-121) is not included above.
Against The BIG EAST
Since the BIG EAST was restructured in 2013, Creighton owns a winning percentage better than .800 against each of the other teams currently in the BIG EAST.
The Bluejays own 227 wins against BIG EAST competition (including BIG EAST Championship play) since 2013, 40 more wins than Marquette for most in the league.
CU still has not lost to three league foes (DePaul, Georgetown, Providence) since joining the BIG EAST, and Marquette (6), Villanova (3), Seton Hall (3) and St. John's (3) are the only BIG EAST programs to top the Bluejays multiple times since 2013.
Opponent Reg. Season BE Tourney Total
Butler 23-1 - 23-1
Connecticut 5-1 1-0 6-1
DePaul 26-0 3-0 29-0
Georgetown 24-0 - 24-0
Marquette 21-5 8-1 29-6
Providence 18-0 - 18-0
Seton Hall 21-3 2-0 23-3
St. John's 22-2 1-1 23-3
Villanova 21-3 3-0 24-3
Xavier 23-1 5-0 28-1
TOTAL 204-16 23-2 227-18
Rosen Sets More History
Last year Brian Rosen was the first volleyball head coach to go unbeaten in BIG EAST play in their first season as head coach at a school since Pitt's Cindy Alvear went 7-0 in 1993.
Rosen was the first volleyball head coach to win a BIG EAST regular-season title in their first season as head coach at a school since Louisville's Anne Kordes in 2011.
Rosen was the first volleyball head coach to win 20+ matches in their first year as a head coach at a BIG EAST school since Ryan Theis won 24 matches at Marquette in 2014.
Rosen's 28 victories were the most ever by a head coach in his/her first season in the BIG EAST.
Rosen became the first volleyball head coach to win a BIG EAST Tournament title in their first season as head coach at a school since Georgetown's Li Liu in 1999.
Rosen became the first male head coach to win a BIG EAST Tournament title since Marquette's Bond Shymansky in 2013.
Rosen became the first volleyball head coach to win an NCAA Tournament match in their first year as a head coach at a BIG EAST school since Louisville's Anne Kordes in 2011, and the only rookie BIG EAST Volleyball coach to win multiple NCAA Tournament matches in the same season.
Top 25 Sweeps
Creighton owns 33 Top 25 victories in its history, with nine of those being 3-0 sweeps.
Three of those wins have come against Kansas, another three against Kentucky, two vs. Marquette and one at Purdue.
Creighton's 3-0 Wins vs. Top 25 Teams
Opponent Date
vs. #10 Kentucky 09/05/15
#13 Kentucky 09/01/17
at #7 Kansas 09/09/17
#21 Marquette 09/23/18
at #3 Kentucky 09/04/21
at #16 Purdue 08/26/23
#25 Marquette 11/05/23
at #10 Kansas 09/21/24
#17 Kansas 09/21/25
Against NCAA Tournament Qualifiers
This year's team has at least 15 matches against teams that made the 2025 NCAA Tournament with contests against Marquette (2x), Xavier (2x), Purdue, Minnesota, USC, Arizona, Tulsa, Northern Iowa, Louisville, Rice, Nebraska, Kansas State and Texas A&M.
Year W-L vs. Previous Season NCAA Teams
1994 0-4
1995 0-2
1996 0-2
1997 0-3
1998 0-5
1999 2-4
2000 0-4
2001 1-6
2002 0-5
2003 0-3
2004 2-2
2005 0-6
2006 4-6
2007 4-9
2008 6-8
2009 1-11
2010 4-7
2011 2-6
2012 8-3
2013 6-6
2014 4-5
2015 11-5
2016 10-7
2017 8-6
2018 8-5
2019 5-4
2020 3-1
2021 3-1
2022 5-4
2023 11-3
2024 9-3
2025 9-6
2026 0-0 so far
TOTAL 125-151
TOTAL Before Booth 3-35
TOTAL Under Booth 113-110
TOTAL Under Rosen 9-6
Players Mentioned
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/ VolleyballTuesday, August 25
Thursday, August 20
Friday, August 14
Monday, June 08
