Last Night In #BIGEASTvb – 12.2 NCAA Edition
NEW YORK – Creighton defeated Northern Iowa in a five-set thriller in Lawrenceville, Kansas to advance in the 2016 NCAA Volleyball Championship. In Wisconsin, Marquette lost a four-set match to Washington State as the BIG EAST went 1-1 in NCAA volleyball action on Thursday night.
With the win, Creighton will advance to Friday's sub-Regional final at 7:30 p.m. ET against fourth-ranked and No. 5 national seed Kansas. The Jayhawks swept Samford by scores of 25-19, 25-21, 25-17.
NCAA Second Rounds Schedule
First Round Matchup: No. 21 Creighton at No. 4 Kansas (No. 5 seed)
Date & Time: Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Lawrence, Kansas (Horejsi Family Athletics Center)
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
Watch: ESPN3
Creighton 3, Northern Iowa 2
The No. 21 Creighton Volleyball team picked up its 21st straight win with a hard-fought 3-2 triumph over Northern Iowa in the First Round of the 2016 NCAA Volleyball Tournament in Lawrence, Kan., on Thursday. Scores of the match in favor of CU were 25-16, 25-20, 24-26, 14-25, 15-12. Creighton improves to 27-6 on year, while UNI ends its season at 24-10. In a match-up featured Creighton's third-ranked offense against a Panther defense that led the nation in digs, it was Creighton's defense that stole the show. Led by Brittany Witt and Kenzie Crawford, Creighton won the digs battle, 86-71. Winters had her fifth double-double of the fall with 12 digs and season-highs in both kills (24) and blocks (4). Wilkinson finished with a career-high 18 kills, hitting .394, and Kloth had 12 kills. Witt led the defense with a career-high 32 digs, while Crawford recorded a career-high with 17 digs. Dimke dished 60 assists and Smith led the way with nine blocks. Creighton had 68 kills, two aces, 86 digs and 12 blocks on .181 hitting.
No. 25 Washington State 3, Marquette 1
Marquette had its season come to a close on Thursday night as the Golden Eagles fell, 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 19-25, 20-25) to No. 25 Washington State in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Volleyball Championship. Marquette finishes with a 23-9 overall record in its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles were led by redshirt sophomore Taylor Louis with 18 kills, while freshman Allie Barber tallied 12 and redshirt sophomore Jenna Rosenthal with 11 kills and a .350 hitting percentage. Senior Sara Blasier dished out 40 assists and added four digs with three blocks and classmate Lauren Houg collected 23 digs.