TAMPA, Fla. -- The Creighton Volleyball team posted a 3-0 sweep over Big East foe South Florida to set up a Saturday night showdown for the USF Invitational title vs. Wisconsin. Scores of the match in favor of Creighton were 25-18, 25-22, 25-23.
Creighton is now 2-0 on the young season, while USF fell to 0-2.
Saturday night's match vs. Wisconsin will start at 6 pm Central. It will not be broadcast via radio or video, but will have updates via live stats or via the @gocreighton Twitter account. The Jays are seeking their first tournament title since winning the Blue Raider Bash in 2006.
Creighton needed to call a timeout after falling behind 14-12 in the first set, but once it minimized its mistakes, the Jays steadily pulled away. A 5-1 run moved the CU lead to 17-15, and after a side out Kate Elman served up a 4-0 run to make it 21-16. The Jays closed out the first set on a solo stuff from Kelli Browning, one of the five blocks in the frame for the visitors. Megan Bober had nine assists and eight digs in the first set alone. USF hit -.079 for the set, while CU hit .140.
There were 13 ties in the second set, but Creighton used a set-ending 7-1 run to finish off a 25-22 victory. The late surge was fueled by strong serving from Megan Bober, and four crucial attack errors from USF. Creighton hit .278 in the second set, led by four kills in as many swings by Michelle Sicner.
The Jays wasted no time in the third set. Redshirt freshman Lizzy Stivers served up two aces during a 6-0 run to build a 10-4 lead. Creighton's lead remained four or more until the Bulls scored four straight late to make it 24-23. But J'beria Davis served it into the net on match point to lift CU to a second consecutive triumph.
Creighton was led by Sicner's 10 kills (one shy of a career-high) and .643 hitting. Bober nearly had her 10th triple-double of her career, finishing with 22 assists, 14 digs and eight kills. Creighton had 40 kills, five aces, 45 digs and 8.5 blocks on the day.
USF was paced by eight kills from Andrea Rodriguez Gomez, who had eight kills, and 20 digs from Claudia Cabrera. The Bulls tallied 41 kills, one ace, 52 digs and three blocks while hitting .142 as a team.
