OMAHA, Neb. - Seniors Jessica Houts and Sarah Schulze enjoyed their final regular-season home match by helping the Creighton volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Evansville Saturday afternoon at D.J. Sokol Arena. Scores in favor of the Bluejays were 25-19, 20-25, 25-15 and 25-23. Houts posted a double-double with 13 kills and 12 blocks, while both Allie Oelke and Alicia Runge had 15 kills for the victors.
Creighton improved to 12-15 on the season, 9-7 in Missouri Valley Conference action. Evansville drops to 13-16 overall, 6-11 in MVC play. Bluejay head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth moved her home mark against the Aces to a perfect 7-0, as she is now 13-1 all-time against UE.
The Bluejays controlled the first set, jumping out to a 7-3 lead. The 25-19 margin of victory in the first set, equalled CU's largest lead in the opening frame. UE hit just .064, compared to .244 by the Jays in the opener.
After taking the first point of the second set, Creighton would never lead again, as UE answered with a pair of points and would eventually build to a 10-6 lead. CU would tie the set at 14-14, but the Aces responded with three straight points and pushed ahead by six before taking the second set 25-20. The Aces hit .324 with just two errors in the second stanza to help them even the match.
Creighton never trailed in cruising to a 25-15 win after the break. The Bluejays held the Aces to just eight kills and eight errors and a .000 hitting percentage in the third set, closing on a 13-6 run to pull away.
The Aces appeared poised to send the match to five sets, as they opened the fourth with five straight points. The home team would respond with an 8-2 run to gain the lead. The Jays would go ahead 15-11 in the tightly contested frame, only to see the Aces pull even at 16-16. CU took a 21-19 lead before the Aces scored the next three points to claim a 22-21 lead. CU tied it at 22 and would log the 25-23 fourth set win, for the match victory.
CU hit .324 in the fourth set to finish the match with a .230 hitting percentage.
Runge led the Jays, hitting .400 with her 15 kills. Oelke logged another double-double for the Jays with 18 digs to go along with her 15 kills. Houts also logged a double-dime with 13 kills and 12 blocks, to help the Jays own a 17.5-10.0 advantage in blocks for the match. Schulze had 16 digs, seven kills and four blocks on her Senior Day. Nayka Benitez paced the Jays with 24 digs. CU finished with 64 kills, two aces and 88 digs.
Creighton will conclude the regular-season next weekend when it plays at first-place and 22nd-ranked Northern Iowa on Friday night and at Bradley on Saturday. The Jays will then return home to play host to the State Farm MVC Tournament Nov. 26-28 at D.J. Sokol Arena.
