CHAMPIONS! #9 Volleyball Beats #3 Washington To Win Husky Invitational

SEATTLE, Wash. -- The No. 9 Creighton Volleyball team won the Husky Invitational on Saturday night with a 3-1 win over No. 3 Washington in the program's biggest regular-season victory in history. It was Washington's first non-conference loss in the regular-season since Sept. 13, 2008, snapping a streak of 81 straight wins, and the Huskies first non-conference regular-season home loss since Sept. 1, 2001.

Scores of the match in favor of Creighton were 25-22, 25-17, 14-25, 25-23.

The win over the No. 3 Huskies is the highest ranked foe that Creighton has ever beaten, topping the 3-2 win over No. 4 Kansas in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Creighton has now beaten a top-10 team in each of the last three seasons after going without a top-10 victory from 1994-2014.

Marysa Wilkinson was named Tournament MVP, with teammates Lydia Dimke and Megan Ballenger also landing spots on the All-Tournament Team.

"I thought different people stepped up all the time," said Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "The good thing was that we played the way we're capable of playing. We didn't play out of our minds and we still have plenty of areas to improve upon, as does Washington. It's early in the season, but we did get better every match this weekend, so that's a positive."

Creighton led most of the first set to earn a 25-22 victory, though neither team led by more than three at any point in the set. The Bluejays' 18-15 lead was erased was Washington tied the score at 21-all, but CU would take the lead on a kill by Taryn Kloth, earn a set point after a triple block, and win the frame when Naomi Hickman put down an overpass. The Bluejays hit .268 in the first set while forcing the Huskies into eight attack errors. Kloth and Wilkinson each had four kills for CU in the initial stanza.

The Bluejays took a 2-0 lead into the break with a convincing 25-17 victory in the second set. The visitors hit .424 in the set thanks to 17 kills in 33 swings. The Jays broke free from 12-12 deadlock with an 8-1 run to quiet the crowd at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Washington handed CU its first set loss of 2017 in the third frame, using an 8-0 run to open up a 13-5 lead that Creighton couldn't recover from. Washington had six blocks and hit .333 while controlling play at the net.

The fourth set featured 15 ties and five lead changes, none bigger than the final points of the match. Creighton trailed 22-20 before scoring five of the final six points of the contest. A kill from Winters preceded a solo stuff by Wilkinson that tied the match. CU took the lead at 23-22 on a bad set by the Huskies, and CU earned two match points after a kill from Winters made it 24-22. After CU served it into the net, Washington's Kara Bajema served it long to end the contest.

"It was a great atmosphere against a really great team. It was exciting to walk away with a win. With that said, this is a marathon so this win should make us want to work harder to be all we can be. I want them to enjoy this tonight but then we have to get back in the gym this week to get ready for three more incredible teams this weekend."

Winters and Kloth each had 16 kills for Creighton, with Kloth hitting .389. Wilkinson had 11 kills and four blocks on .429 hitting, and Dimke chipped in with 47 assists, nine digs and a pair of aces. Brittany Witt led the defense with 17 digs. Creighton finished with 58 kills, four aces, 61 digs and 7.5 blocks on .270 hitting.

Washington was paced by 13 kills and .375 hitting by Carly DeHoog, and limited Pac-12 Player of the Year Courtney Schwan to 11 kills and 16 digs. The Huskies had 57 kills, four aces, 66 digs and 11.0 blocks on .242 hitting.

Creighton opens its 11-match home schedule on Friday when it hosts the Bluejay Invitational, presented by First National Bank. The event starts at 4:30 pm when Northern Iowa meets USC at 4:30 pm, followed by No. 9 Creighton hosting No. 14 Kentucky at 7 pm. All four teams in the Bluejay Invitational posted at least one top-25 win on the opening weekend of the season.

"It's going to be the best volleyball in the country," said Booth about the Bluejay Invitational. "Even if you're not a Creighton fan, you should make your way to Omaha and hopefully you'll morph into a Creighton fan. Every match will be awesome and our facility should be rocking. It'll be a blast."

NOTES: Creighton improved to 3-27 all-time against top-10 foes, and 8-67 all-time against top-25 competition ... This was Creighton's first match in program history as a top-10 team while facing another top-10 team ... This was the only match in the nation on the opening weekend that featured a pair of top-10 teams ... Jaali Winters had double-figure kills for the 12th straight match, tying her for the sixth-longest streak in program history ... The tournament title was Creighton's first since the 2014 Bluejay Invitational, and first to open a season since 2013 when it won the Hampton Inn Invitational hosted by Bowling Green ... Washington had been 16-0 all-time at home in the month of August prior to the loss on Saturday.

CHAMPIONS! #9 Volleyball Beats #3 Washington To Win Husky Invitational

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Team Stats

Jaali Winters

Taryn Kloth

Marysa Wilkinson

Megan Ballenger

Players Mentioned

Megan Ballenger

Lydia Dimke

Naomi Hickman

Taryn Kloth

Marysa Wilkinson

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt

Players Mentioned

Megan Ballenger

Lydia Dimke

Naomi Hickman

Taryn Kloth

Marysa Wilkinson

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt