Friday, September 22
D.J. Sokol Arena
7:00 PM
Creighton University
8-4, 1-0BIG EAST
3
vs
1
Georgetown
6-7, 0-1BIG EAST
1
2
3
4
F
Georgetown
12
11
25
11
1
Creighton
25
25
20
25
3
Megan Ballenger had 23 assists in her collegiate setting debut for Creighton on Friday
Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann
Volleyball Opens League Play With Win Over Georgetown
9/22/2017 9:38:00 PM | Volleyball
Bluejays hit .446 for 25th straight BIG EAST triumph
OMAHA, Neb. -- No. 15 Creighton hit .446 in a 3-1 win over Georgetown on Friday night in the BIG EAST Volleyball opener for both teams. The hitting percentage is the best mark for any four-set match in school history.
Scores of the match in favor of the victorious hosts were 25-12, 25-11, 20-25, 25-11. It was Creighton's 25th consecutive regular-season BIG EAST victory, the third-longest streak in league history.
Playing without BIG EAST Player of the Year Lydia Dimke for the second straight match, the Bluejays showed off their versatility by unveiling an offense that featured Samantha Bohnet and Megan Ballenger splitting time at the setter position. Bohnet dished 24 assists while Ballenger added 23 helpers to quarterback the Bluejays to their fourth-highest hitting percentage in school history for a match of any length. Ballenger also had eight kills, four digs and a block, while Bohnet served up three aces to equal her previous best done in last year's visit to Omaha by Georgetown.
Taryn Kloth had her first career double-double, finishing with 15 kills and 10 digs, while junior classmate Jaali Winters also had a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs. Kloth hit at a .542 clip, as did senior middle blocker Marysa Wilkinson, who finished with 14 kills. Brittany Witt tied her season-high with 20 digs. Creighton had 62 kills, five aces, 61 digs and six blocks overall.
Georgetown (6-7, 0-1 BIG EAST) was led by Symone Speech, who had 16 kills and hit .343. Kenzie Higareda had 16 digs and Paige McKnight tallied 32 assists and a dozen digs. GU hit .179 and finished with 40 kills, two aces, 43 digs and four blocks on the evening.
Creighton (8-4, 1-0 BIG EAST) never trailed in the opening two sets, finishing with 16 kills and one attack error in each frame. The Hoyas hit .400 in the third frame to win their first set in Omaha in 13 tries. GU took the lead on consecutive kills by Speech to move ahead 14-12. Up 22-20, Speech had a kill before Emily Herrington closed out the set with consecutive blocks. Speech had eight kills in the third frame.
The Bluejays reverted to their pre-intermission ways in the fourth set to dominate a 25-11 finale. Witt served up a 6-0 run as CU moved ahead 8-2, and the lead grew to 16-6 after Ballenger and Winters stuffed Madison Smith. A kill from Creighton freshman Naomi Hickman closed out the contest. CU had four blocks in the final set, holding the Hoyas to -.031 hitting in 31 swings. CU out-dug GU 19-9 in the fourth set.
Creighton hosts Villanova on Sunday at 1 pm.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 9-0 all-time against Georgetown, including a 5-0 mark in Omaha ... Creighton improved to 64-7 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST play with its 25th straight league victory ... Creighton has won 20 straight BIG EAST regular-season matches at home and is 66-7 all-time in conference home matches at D.J. Sokol Arena ... Creighton improved to 16-8 all-time in conference openers, including a 13-2 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. This was CU's fourth straight win to open league play ... Creighton has won 97 straight matches when hitting .300 or better ... Megan Ballenger had 23 assists in four sets on Friday after entering the contest with 32 career assists in 145 sets played. Ballenger admitted after the match that her previous setting experience consisted of "a couple weeks in high school" ... The crowd of 1,637 was Creighton's 20th-largest home crowd in history ... Taryn Kloth's 10 digs were a career-high ... Creighton snapped a rare two-match losing streak with the victory ... Creighton was the unanimous pick to win the BIG EAST, while Georgetown was picked ninth in the preseason poll ... Jaali Winters moved into eighth in CU history in career kills. She now has 1,129 to surpass Allie Oelke's 1,126 from 2007-10 ... Marysa Wilkinson surged from 15th to 13th on Creighton's all-time kills list, passing Jess Bird (965) and Erin Swanson (955). Her 14 kills give her 968 in her career.
Scores of the match in favor of the victorious hosts were 25-12, 25-11, 20-25, 25-11. It was Creighton's 25th consecutive regular-season BIG EAST victory, the third-longest streak in league history.
Playing without BIG EAST Player of the Year Lydia Dimke for the second straight match, the Bluejays showed off their versatility by unveiling an offense that featured Samantha Bohnet and Megan Ballenger splitting time at the setter position. Bohnet dished 24 assists while Ballenger added 23 helpers to quarterback the Bluejays to their fourth-highest hitting percentage in school history for a match of any length. Ballenger also had eight kills, four digs and a block, while Bohnet served up three aces to equal her previous best done in last year's visit to Omaha by Georgetown.
Taryn Kloth had her first career double-double, finishing with 15 kills and 10 digs, while junior classmate Jaali Winters also had a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs. Kloth hit at a .542 clip, as did senior middle blocker Marysa Wilkinson, who finished with 14 kills. Brittany Witt tied her season-high with 20 digs. Creighton had 62 kills, five aces, 61 digs and six blocks overall.
Georgetown (6-7, 0-1 BIG EAST) was led by Symone Speech, who had 16 kills and hit .343. Kenzie Higareda had 16 digs and Paige McKnight tallied 32 assists and a dozen digs. GU hit .179 and finished with 40 kills, two aces, 43 digs and four blocks on the evening.
Creighton (8-4, 1-0 BIG EAST) never trailed in the opening two sets, finishing with 16 kills and one attack error in each frame. The Hoyas hit .400 in the third frame to win their first set in Omaha in 13 tries. GU took the lead on consecutive kills by Speech to move ahead 14-12. Up 22-20, Speech had a kill before Emily Herrington closed out the set with consecutive blocks. Speech had eight kills in the third frame.
The Bluejays reverted to their pre-intermission ways in the fourth set to dominate a 25-11 finale. Witt served up a 6-0 run as CU moved ahead 8-2, and the lead grew to 16-6 after Ballenger and Winters stuffed Madison Smith. A kill from Creighton freshman Naomi Hickman closed out the contest. CU had four blocks in the final set, holding the Hoyas to -.031 hitting in 31 swings. CU out-dug GU 19-9 in the fourth set.
Creighton hosts Villanova on Sunday at 1 pm.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 9-0 all-time against Georgetown, including a 5-0 mark in Omaha ... Creighton improved to 64-7 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST play with its 25th straight league victory ... Creighton has won 20 straight BIG EAST regular-season matches at home and is 66-7 all-time in conference home matches at D.J. Sokol Arena ... Creighton improved to 16-8 all-time in conference openers, including a 13-2 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. This was CU's fourth straight win to open league play ... Creighton has won 97 straight matches when hitting .300 or better ... Megan Ballenger had 23 assists in four sets on Friday after entering the contest with 32 career assists in 145 sets played. Ballenger admitted after the match that her previous setting experience consisted of "a couple weeks in high school" ... The crowd of 1,637 was Creighton's 20th-largest home crowd in history ... Taryn Kloth's 10 digs were a career-high ... Creighton snapped a rare two-match losing streak with the victory ... Creighton was the unanimous pick to win the BIG EAST, while Georgetown was picked ninth in the preseason poll ... Jaali Winters moved into eighth in CU history in career kills. She now has 1,129 to surpass Allie Oelke's 1,126 from 2007-10 ... Marysa Wilkinson surged from 15th to 13th on Creighton's all-time kills list, passing Jess Bird (965) and Erin Swanson (955). Her 14 kills give her 968 in her career.
Team Stats
GU
CU
Kills
40
62
Errors
18
8
Attempts
123
121
Hitting %
.179
.446
Points
46.0
73.0
Assists
37
52
Aces
2
5
Blocks
4.0
6.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
15
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
MB/RS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
MB/RS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS
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