Volleyball Chases Fourth Straight BIG EAST Tournament Title on Saturday

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BIG EAST Championship, presented by Jeep
Nov. 25   1:32 pm   #1 Creighton at #2 Marquette (FS2)   Milwaukee, Wis. (Al McGuire Center)

• Top-seeded and 17th-ranked Creighton (24-6) meets second-seeded Marquette (22-8) for the BIG EAST Championship title on Saturday at 1:32 p.m. at Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee. Though both teams are likely to make the NCAA Tournament, the winner clinches the BIG EAST's automatic bid.
   The match will be televised on FS2 and air just before the Creighton men's basketball game against SIU Edwardsville that is scheduled for a 3:31 p.m. tip.

• Creighton is appearing in its seventh conference tournament title game in program history, all in the last eight years, and sixth straight. Creighton is 4-2 in the previous six title game appearances, including a 3-1 mark since joining the BIG EAST in the summer of 2013.

• With a win on Saturday, Creighton can become the first school to win four straight BIG EAST Championships since Notre Dame won four straight from 1995-98.
   The only other schools to win a conference tournament each of the last four years (including 2017) are American, Coastal Carolina and Denver.

• Creighton has won seven straight matches at the BIG EAST Championships to improve to 8-1 all-time at the event. The only loss came in the 2013 final, a 3-1 setback against Marquette in Omaha.
   Creighton is now 3-0 all-time in Milwaukee at the BIG EAST Championship, including the 2015 title.

• Across all athletic programs, Creighton is 3-9 in BIG EAST Championship title matches, but all three wins have come in volleyball. CU has also reached (and lost) the title tilt in baseball (three times), men's basketball (twice), men's soccer (twice), women's basketball (once) and volleyball (once).

• Creighton improved to 9-0 all-time as the No. 1 seed in conference tournament play, including a 7-0 mark in the BIG EAST and a 2-0 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference.

• Creighton has won each of its last 13 sets played in the BIG EAST Championship, a streak that started on Nov. 27, 2015 when it won the fifth set against Marquette. Since that time, CU has swept Villanova twice and both Seton Hall and Xavier once each.
   The last team to win 3-0 in the finals in consecutive seasons was Pittsburgh in 1991 and 1992.

• Each of the last 10 teams to win the first set of the BIG EAST Championship title match have gone on to win the match, and are 30-5 all-time in the finals when taking a 1-0 lead.
   Only two teams in event history have dropped the first two sets and won the title match (Pittsburgh in 1993, Louisville in 2006).
   Creighton is 21-0 this year when winning the first set, and 3-6 when it doesn't. The Bluejays have won 40 consecutive matches when winning the first set.

• Creighton is seeking its fourth title in five events this season. Earlier this fall, the Bluejays won the Husky Invitational, the Bluejay Invitational and the Kansas Invitational, the first time CU has ever won three non-conference events in the same season.
   Each of Creighton's three tournament titles has had a different MVP this year, as Marysa Wilkinson was honored at the Husky Invitational, Lydia Dimke recognized at the Bluejay Invitational and Jaali Winters taking top honors at the Kansas Invitational.

• Yesterday's victory improved Creighton's unofficial RPI to 12th heading into the day before Selection Sunday. Creighton's official NCAA RPI has hovered between 8th and 16th all eight weeks since the NCAA began revealing those rankings on October 2nd.

• Creighton is 29-2 in the month of November during the last four seasons.

• Creighton picked up its 24th win of the season on Friday, fifth-most in program history. This is CU's sixth straight season of 23 or more victories, one of nine schools that can say that.

• Creighton is 12-4 all-time against Marquette, and 1-1 against the Golden Eagles in BIG EAST Championship play. The Bluejays are 8-1 in the past four seasons against MU.
   Marquette snapped CU's 28-match win streak in league play on October 5th in Milwaukee.
   Ten of the last 15 meetings have been sweeps, and teams to win the first set are 14-2 all-time in the history of the series.
   Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 12-4 against Marquette and 8-1 against Ryan Theis.

• Creighton and Marquette split two regular-season matches this fall, with the home team sweeping the match each time.
   Marquette won the first meeting in Milwaukee by a score of 25-16, 25-15, 25-21 as the Golden Eagles used 21 kills and .541 hitting from Allie Barber.
   Creighton won the rematch in Omaha by a 25-12, 26-24, 25-15 count as Jaali Winters (13 kills, 11 digs) and Lydia Dimke (32 assists, 10 digs) each compiled double-doubles.
   The winning team outhit the losing team by exactly .228 in each match, with Creighton outscoring the Golden Eagles 128-126 over the two matches.

• Saturday's title tilt only underlines how much better Creighton and Marquette have been than the rest of the pack in the BIG EAST. Since the BIG EAST's reconfiguration in 2013, Creighton (4) and Marquette (1) have won all five regular-season titles, and all four (Creighton 3, Marquette 1) BIG EAST Championship titles.

• One strategy Marquette tried to employ against Creighton this season was to serve at Jaali Winters as much as possible, Winters passed eight balls leading to first-ball kills among 38 serve receptions in MU's win in Milwaukee before making a huge improvement and contributing to 12 kills in 16 serve receptions in Omaha in the CU triumph.
   For the season, Winters has passed 290 balls on serve receive that led directly to first-ball kills, 99 more than the next closest teammate.

• Creighton figures to be more rested than Marquette when it takes the floor for Saturday's 1:32 p.m. first serve. Creighton's match was just three sets and ended at 2:09 p.m., while Marquette battled four sets and didn't wrap up until 4:58 p.m.
   Creighton spread its playing time among 10 players, with no one swinging more than 30 times, while Marquette utilized just eight women and had two players with 40+ attacks.

• One key player Creighton will try to slow is Marquette sophomore outside hitter Allie Barber, the 2017 BIG EAST Player of the Year.
   Barber had 21 kills on .541 hitting in MU's win over the Bluejays in Milwaukee, but was limited to 10 kills and .176 hitting in the rematch in Omaha, a 3-0 Creighton win. In that contest, Creighton outscored MU 35-20 with Barber off the floor, compared to just 41-31 when Barber was in the line-up.

• Creighton is a virtual lock to make its sixth straight NCAA Tournament, and seventh in the past eight seasons. Creighton entered this season as one of 21 schools to play in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, a grouping that also includes Marquette.
   Creighton is 8-6 in six previous NCAA Tournament appearances, with all of those trips coming since 2010. The Bluejays went 1-1 in 2010, 2012 and 2013, went 0-1 in 2014, went 2-1 in 2015 to reach the program's first Sweet 16 and last year went 3-1 in the NCAA's to become the BIG EAST's first Elite Eight qualifier in history.

• Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 8-1 in BIG EAST Championship action with three titles. The rest of the league's active coaches are a combined 9-20 with one title.

• Yesterday's win improved Kirsten Bernthal Booth to 315-159 in 15 seasons as Creighton head coach, including an 8-1 mark in BIG EAST Championships play.
   Booth is already one of six coaches in league history to win three or more BIG EAST Championships, joining Notre Dame's Debbie Brown (9), Pittsburgh's Shelton Collier (4), Pittsburgh's Sue Woodstra (4), Louisville's Leonid Yelin (4) and Providence's Dick Bagge (3).

• Creighton hit .349 in yesterday's win. The Bluejays are now 99-0 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when hitting .300 or better.

• Both Creighton freshmen to appear yesterday made a huge difference. Naomi Hickman tied her season-high with nine kills, while Alexa Roumeliotis ranked second on the team with 11 digs.

• Taryn Kloth led Creighton with 14 errorless kills on 29 attempts yesterday. Kloth owns seven or more kills in each of CU's last 13 matches and now owns 905 career putaways.

• Creighton's 105 wins since 2014 is the most for any four-year stretch in program history. Marysa Wilkinson has played in 104 of those victories, tying her with Lauren Smith (2013-16) for the most of any player in school history.
   Creighton's 105 wins in the last four years are tied for 10th-most nationally, and more than schools such as Minnesota and Florida.
   Including conference tournament play, Creighton is 74-5 in the last four seasons against opponents from the BIG EAST. That includes an 8-1 record versus Marquette.

• Jaali Winters is attempting to become the third player in BIG EAST Championship history to be named MVP in consecutive seasons, joining Pitt's Ann Marie Lucanie (1990-93) and Notre Dame's Jaime Lee (1996-97).

• Jaali Winters had 11 kills yesterday vs. Villanova, and now owns 73 career kills in BIG EAST Championship play. That ranks third in CU history, but is well within the top two Bluejays (81 by Jess Bird, 77 by Lauren Smith).

• Creighton has never had two players reach 1,000 career digs in the same match, but there's a slim chance it could happen on Saturday. Jaali Winters enters the contest with 984 career digs, and Brittany Witt owns 963 career digs.
   Winters owns four matches this season of 16 digs or more. Witt's career-high is 32 digs, but the BIG EAST Libero of the Year owns 53 career digs in four career matches vs. Marquette.
   Should Winters (1,357 kills, 984 digs) accomplish the feat, she'd join Melissa Walsh (1,596 kills, 1,240 digs) and Allie Oelke (1,126 kills, 1,382 digs) as the only players in Creighton history with 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.

• Regardless of Saturday's result, Creighton Volleyball fans are invited to join the student-athletes and coaches at the The Session Room (1502 Mike Fahey Street) Sunday night to watch the 2017 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship Selection Show, which will be televised live nationally on ESPNU starting at 8:00 p.m. Central.

Volleyball Chases Fourth Straight BIG EAST Tournament Title on Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Lydia Dimke

Naomi Hickman

Taryn Kloth

Alexa Roumeliotis

Marysa Wilkinson

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt