Last Night In #BIGEASTvb – 10.1
NEW YORK – With a win over Xavier, Creighton continues to stay at the top of the early BIG EAST standings with a 3-0 record. Butler, Marquette and DePaul also earned wins as the Bulldogs, Golden Eagles and Blue Demons all move to 2-1 in the league standings.
Butler 3, Providence 0
Butler defeated the Friars of Providence in three sets at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Friday night (25-18, 25-20, 25-14). With this win the Bulldogs improve to 13-6 on the season, and 2-1 in conference play. Makayla Ferguson was active on both offense and defense for BU, finishing with a double double. Ferguson had a match-high 34 assists along with 14 digs in the three sets of play. Anna Logan was also dominant on offense, amassing a team-high 17 kills in the match for a total of 19 points. For Providence, Kayla Fitzgerald led with nine kills. Jenae Alderson had 17 digs.
Marquette 3, Georgetown 1
Redshirt senior Meghan Niemann became the all-time leader in block assists on Friday night as the Marquette women's volleyball team defeated Georgetown 3-1 at the Al McGuire Center. With Marquette (12-3, 2-1) leading 15-7 in the first set, Niemann went up with classmate Sara Blasier for the block and tallied her 365th career block assist to secure her place as the all-time leader. Redshirt sophomore Taylor Louis once again paced Marquette with a match-high 18 kills and a .372 hitting percentage, while Niemann boasted 15 kills, just one error and hit a stellar .778 clip with three blocks. The Golden Eagles had an excellent hitting night as they combined for a .402 hitting percentage and just six total errors in the match, including a .545 clip in the third set, while holding Georgetown (5-12, 1-3) to just .115 hitting on the night. Hoya Symone Speech had a team-best 13 kills.
Creighton 3, Xavier 0
Creighton remained atop the BIG EAST standings with a 3-0 sweep of Xavier on Friday night at Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Scores of the Bluejay sweep were 25-18, 25-23, 25-15. Creighton hit .337 in the match and finished with 45 kills, 41 digs and three blocks, in addition to four aces and just one serving error. Xavier finished with 38 kills, two aces, 30 digs and three blocks on .186 hitting. Jaali Winters, the Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year, led CU with 16 kills in 27 swings to hit a season-best .519 and outduel Xavier's reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year, Abbey Bessler. Bessler finished with eight kills and three digs on .154 hitting to pace the Musketeers.
DePaul 3, Villanova 1
Returning to McGrath-Phillips Arena for the first time in almost three weeks, DePaul defeated Villanova, 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21). The Blue Demons move to 2-1 in BIG EAST play and 8-7 overall, while the Wildcats drop to 2-2 in conference play and 11-6 overall. Brittany Maxwell showed up big for the Blue Demons on both sides of play. The sophomore finished with a match-high 19 kills, six digs and a match-high five total blocks. Villanova’s Allie Loitz led the Wildcats with 16 kills. Wildcat setter Emma Decker had 44 assists.
Upcoming #BIGEASTvb Schedule
October
1 SETON HALL at ST. JOHN’S at 2 p.m.
PROVIDENCE at XAVIER at 4 p.m.
CREIGHTON at BUTLER at 6 p.m.
GEORGETOWN at DePAUL (BEDN) at 7 p.m.
VILLANOVA at MARQUETTE at 7 p.m.
5 XAVIER at MARQUETTE at 1 p.m.
BUTLER at DePAUL at 1 p.m.