This Weekend In #BIGEASTvb – 10.30.17
NEW YORK – Creighton maintains its hold over the No. 1 spot in the league as the Bluejays (18-5, 11-1 BIG EAST) advanced their winning streak to seven matches with two wins on the road at Providence this weekend. Butler has won its way into third place currently as the Bulldogs (19-6, 9-4 BIG EAST) are on a five-match winnings streak with back-to-back five-set victories over Villanova at Georgetown at home. Marquette holds on to second place with a 11-2 record in league play and road victories over St. John’s and Seton Hall over the weekend.
Xavier won both matches at home against Georgetown and Villanova this weekend as the Musketeers (10-17, 5-8 BIG EAST) are making a late season push and have extended their current winning streak to three matches.
Sunday, Oct. 29
BUTLER 3, GEORGETOWN 2 (25-22,25-19,19-25,23-25,15-8)
Anna Logan was the player of the game for Butler with a team-high 19 kills to go along with 18 digs and three blocks. Logan reached 19 kills on just 36 attempts to post a .417 attack percentage. The highest attack percentage on the team belonged to Bri Lilly who connected with 16 kills on 34 attempts (.441). She only committed one attack error. Butler’s Makayla Ferguson had 59 assists. Georgetown’s Symone Speech tied Logan’s match-high with 19 kills for the Hoyas. Alyssa Sinnette also had 17 kills.
Saturday, Oct. 28
MARQUETTE 3, SETON HALL 2 (25-22,33-35,26-24,23-25,15-11)
Marquette sophomore Allie Barber led the Golden Eagles (17-7, 11-2) with a career-best 30 kills Junior Anna Haak tallied her fourth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 21 digs, while freshman Elizabeth Orf connected on a career-high 12 kills with nine blocks. Junior Jenna Rosenthal added eight blocks as Marquette combined for 17 team blocks. Barnes led Seton Hall with 21 kills as Abby Thelen tallied 20 kills. MU withstood a late fight by the Pirates (14-12, 8-5) and claimed the first set, 25-22 paced by eight kills from Barber and a .405 combined team hitting percentage. Seton Hall came back from an early deficit in the second set and outlasted the Golden Eagles in an epic 35-33 battle to even the match. It took extra points again, but Marquette took the third set, 26-24, before the Pirates answered to even the set with a 25-23 win in the fourth frame. MU came out firing with a 7-1 lead in the fifth and final set and though Seton Hall once again pushed back, the Golden Eagles claimed the frame, 15-11 to win the match.
XAVIER 3, VILLANOVA 1 (23-25,25-12,25-22,25-18)
Musketeers Lauren Frilling and Laura Grossman combined for 23 kills on Saturday night as Xavier picked up a four-set win over Villanova. Grossman posted her first career double-double as the junior had a match-high 12 kills to go along with a career-high 15 digs. She added three blocks and a .444 hitting percentage. Frilling hit .476 with 11 kills on the night. The senior middle blocker added four digs and one ace. Xavier had 10 more total team blocks (11-1) than the Wildcats, paced by Frilling and Alexis Newsome who both had five blocks. Xavier now has 10 or more blocks in a match 12 times this season. Allie Loitz had 15 kills to lead the Wildcats, Amanda Pedersen-Henry had 11.
No. 16 CREIGHTON 3, PROVIDENCE 0 (25-12,25-19,25-20)
Creighton hit .344 to dominate the first set, never trailing in a 25-12 win. Marysa Wilkinson and Megan Ballenger combined for seven kills on eight swings in the opener, and Brittany Witt supplied seven digs. Creighton led 23-10 in the third set before finally closing out the sweep on its sixth chance at 25-20 on a kill by Taryn Kloth. Jaali Winters had seven digs in the final set as CU held PC to -.053 hitting. Kloth and Wilkinson each paced CU with eight kills, and Winters contributed seven kills and a match-high 13 digs. Creighton had 39 kills, four aces, 48 digs and eight blocks on .221 hitting overall. Providence was led by Cayla Veverka with seven kills. Allison Barber had nine digs.
ST. JOHN'S 3, DEPAUL 1 (25-16,20-25,25-14,25-19)
After splitting the first two sets on Saturday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena, the Red Storm cruised to win the next two frames of the match for a 3-1 victory over DePaul in our annual Dig for the Cure Match. The offense was firing on all cylinders against the Blue Demons as the Johnnies hit at a season-high .391 hitting percentage, including 20 kills by Cast. For the sixth-time this season, Cast reached the 20-kill mark and also hit at a .362 clip for the match. Freshman Kayley Wood exploded for 12 kills on a career-high .524 hitting percentage, while also finishing with three blocks. DePaul was led by Caitlyn Coffey with 15 kills. Brittany Maxwell had 10.
Friday, Oct. 27
No. 16 CREIGHTON 3, PROVIDENCE 1 (25-19,20-25,25-15,25-20)
Jaali Winters (12 kills, 19 digs) and Lydia Dimke (40 assists, 11 digs) had double-doubles for Creighton, which also got a career-high eight kills from freshman Naomi Hickman. PC was led by 10 kills from Addison Root, though Root hit just .038 in 52 swings. Creighton finished with 55 kills, eight aces, 65 digs and six blocks on .217 hitting. PC countered with 34 kills, nine aces, 48 digs and 10 blocks on .074 hitting. The lone set PC won finished with a 9-0 Friars run after the Bluejays had built up a 20-16 lead just before intermission.
BUTLER 3, VILLANOVA 2 (23-25,28-26,23-25,25-21,15-10)
Brooke Gregory and Bri Lilly led the Bulldogs offensively against the Wildcats. Gregory tallied 19 kills with an attack percentage of .289. Lilly followed with 18 kills and five digs. Both Gregory and Lilly had five blocks. Defensively, Makayla Ferguson posted a double-double with 48 assists and 22 digs. Villanova took an early 6-1 lead in set four, causing Butler to take their first timeout. Villanova continued to control the set, increasing their lead to 8-2. Strong play by Lilly and Logan led the Bulldogs, but Villanova still led 14-9. After an 8-2 scoring run for the Bulldogs, capped off with a kill by Natalie Ravenell, they took the lead 17-16. Ravenell finished with five blocks as well. The Bulldogs never relinquished their lead, taking set four 25-21. After the Bulldogs force set five, they jump out to 4-1 lead, with two kills from Gregory. Butler maintained their lead to take the fifth and final set 15-10. The Wildcats were led by Remy Fairchild and Allie Loitz with 14 kills each. Emma Decker had five blocks.
XAVIER 3, GEORGETOWN 0 (25-19,25-18,25-21)
Xavier senior Lauren Frilling paced the Musketeers with eight kills. The middle blocker added a .462 hitting percentage on the night. Senior Alexis Newsome and junior Laura Grossman both added seven kills. Newsome added two blocks and a .500 hitting percentage. Freshman Maya Krause chipped in six kills, while junior Morgan Finn added five. Senior Mackenzi Humm led the team in assists with 17, while junior McKena Estes posted 15. Estes added eight digs. The Musketeers recorded eight aces, their second most aces in a match this season. Georgetown was led by Symone Speech with 17 kills. Alyssa Synnette had 12.
SETON HALL 3, DEPAUL 0 (25-20,25-22,25-15)
Seton Hall senior Sarah Kenneweg collected her 1000th career dig and the Seton Hall swept DePaul, on Friday. Both Dominique Mason and Abby Thelen reached double-figures in kills as the Pirates had an attack percentage over .300 for only the third time this season. Mason led the Pirates with 13 kills and 10 digs. Thelen had 11 kills and five digs. Junior Sophia Coffey narrowly missed a double-double with 16 assists and nine digs.
MARQUETTE 3, ST. JOHN'S 0 (25-19,25-15,25-14)
Sophomore Allie Barber and freshman Hope Werch led the Marquette (16-7, 10-2) offense with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while junior Anna Haak added eight kills. Defensively, redshirt junior Jenna Rosenthal tallied six blocks, while the Golden Eagles had nine blocks combined, holding St. John's to just four team blocks. Freshman libero Martha Konovodoff collected 10 digs and sophomore Lauren Speckman dished out 28 assists in the victory. St. John’s Jordan McCalla and Julia Cast led the Red Storm with eight kills. DePaul’s Brittany Maxwell led the Blue Demons with 15 kills.
Upcoming #BIGEASTvb
Friday, Nov. 3
XAVIER at BUTLER at 6 p.m. (BEDN)
ST. JOHN’S at GEORGETOWN at 6 p.m.
DEPAUL at PROVIDENCE at 7 p.m.
SETON HALL at VILLANOVA at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 4
MARQUETE at CREIGHTON at 2 p.m. (FSGO)
SETON HALL at GEORGETOWN at 6 p.m.
ST. JOHN’S at VILLANOVA at 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 5
DEPAUL at CREIGHTON at 2 p.m.
MARQUTTE at PROVIDENCE at 4 p.m.
All times listed are Eastern.