#17 Volleyball Sweeps #25 Marquette, Moves Into First Place Tie

OMAHA, Neb. — Senior Ellie Bichelmeyer had a season-high 14 kills and No. 17 Creighton picked up its ninth consecutive 3-0 victory with a 25-18, 25-9, 26-24 triumph over No. 25 Marquette on Sunday, Nov. 5. The victory moves the Bluejays into a three-way tie for first place in the BIG EAST standings as Marquette and St. John’s are also 12-2 in league play.

Creighton (21-4, 12-2 BIG EAST) hit .387 in the match, doubled up the Golden Eagles in kills (54-27), and owned a 54-38 advantage in digs.

Playing in front of the ninth-largest crowd in D.J. Sokol Arena history (2,356), the Bluejays never trailed in the first set. After the teams traded six straight sideouts to start the contest, freshman libero Sydney Breissinger authored a 5-0 serving run to put CU in front 8-3. The margin grew to 15-8 on a kill from Kendra Wait, and Norah Sis put down a kill on set point to give CU the early 1-0 lead.  Creighton dominated the first set on the stat sheet with a 19-7 lead in kills and a 22-12 edge in digs. Bichelmeyer and Kiana Schmitt both had four kills for CU, Wait dished 14 assists and had five digs, and Breissinger owned seven digs.

Marquette (16-9, 12-2 BIG EAST) won the first point of the second set, but Creighton scored seven of the next eight points to take control. Kiara Reinhardt authored back-to-back aces to put CU in front 8-3, and Breissinger later had a 6-0 service run capped by an ace the put the Jays in front 18-5. Once again, a kill from Sis closed out the set. Creighton had a 100 percent sideout percentage in the game while holding MU to -.077 hitting on 39 swings. Schmitt (4) and Bichelmeyer (3) were perfect in seven swings to pace a Bluejay offense that had 12 kills in 24 errorless swings to hit .500.

Creighton built a 5-1 lead early in the third set, but the Golden Eagles battled back to take a 15-14 lead. The teams exchanged the lead four times, with Marquette taking its…