Courtesy of Rob Anderson, Creighton Athletics
OMAHA, Neb. -- Tenth-seeded and 11th-ranked Creighton Volleyball is headed back to the Regional Semifinals for the third straight season, and fifth time overall, after a hard-fought 3-1 win over former Missouri Valley Conference rival on Friday, Dec. 5th. Scores of the CU victory were 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21.
Creighton never trailed in the first set, turning an 8-7 lead into a 13-8 advantage. CU continued to pull away, taking an 18-11 lead as Abbey Hayes provided an early boost with four kills. CU poured it on, taking the first set 25-18 on Hayes' fifth kill. Creighton hit .441 en route to winning the first set for its 22nd straight match. BIG EAST Setter of the Year Annalea Maeder dished a dozen assists and added four digs, two kills and added a block.
UNI didn't waste any time fighting back, taking a 9-4 lead to open the second set. Creighton's slow comeback was aided by five UNI serving errors in the set. CU drew within one point on eight occasions before finally tying the score on an ace by Hayes to make it 20-20. CU also tied it at 21-all, but both times sent their next serve into the net as UNI regained the lead. The Panthers went up 23-21 and 24-22 on Cassidy Hartman's 10th and 11th kills, and won it 25-23 after Lily Dykstra's kill withstood a CU challenge to even the match. Dykstra had eight kills and Hartman six in the second frame to pace a Panther attack that had 18 kills in 40 swings.
The third set featured the first lead change of the match when UNI took a 4-3 lead, part of a 12-5 run that saw CU call both of its timeouts and the Panthers take a 14-8 lead. CU used the right arm of All-American Ava Martin to take a 16-15 lead after four straight kills from the BIG EAST Player of the Year. The set would feature nine ties and four lead changes before CU ultimately prevailed, 25-22. Back-to-back blocks by Eloise Brandewie and Jaya Johnson gave CU a 24-21 lead and a Panther service error handed the Jays a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set saw Creighton race out to an early 3-0 lead and did not release it, taking the match 25-21. While Creighton did not trail in the decisive fourth stanza, Northern Iowa pulled even and 5-5 with four of five points. Holding an 11-9 edge, the Bluejays seemed to take complete control with six straight points by forcing the Panthers into four attack errors during the run. Down 17-9 UNI responded with of the next nine points to make it a one-point contest at 18-17. Moments later the Bluejays put things away with four straight points, courtesy of consecutive blocks, an ace from Noah Wurtz and a kill from the CU leader Martin.
Four Bluejays closed the match with double-digit kills, led by 16 from Martin. Joining the double-digit party were Hayes (12), Johnson (11) and Kiara Reinhardt (10). Maeder guided the Creighton offense with 47 assists and 14 digs.
Northern Iowa got a match-high 21 kills from Cassidy Hartman, to go along with 15 kills from Lilly Dykstra and 10 from Isabelle Elliott. The guiding force for the Panthers brought a familiar name back to D.J. Sokol Arena as Reese Booth (the daughter of former Bluejay head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth) finished with a double-double of 22 assists and 16 digs.
The unbeaten regular-season and tournament champion out of the Missouri Valley Conference, Northern Iowa finishes its season with a 26-6 record.
With the win, Creighton will play Utah State/Arizona State in the Regional Semifinal. A date, time, location and broadcast plans will be announced later this weekend.
NOTES: Creighton has played Northern Iowa more times (60) than any other foe ... Kiara Reinhardt set the D.J. Sokol Arena career blocks record with her 250th career rejection late in the first set ... Reinhardt also extended her career records by making her 65th start and playing in her 69th career match at D.J. Sokol Arena ... Ava Martin set the D.J. Sokol Arena career record for kills with her 781, passing Jaali Winters' 779 ... After winning just four of the first 43 meetings, Creighton has beaten Northern Iowa nine straight meetings and 15 of the last 17 encounters ... CU's 15 wins vs. UNI since 2012 are four more than any other school ... Creighton is 12-1 all-time when ranked and facing UNI ... CU has won 69 straight matches against unranked teams and 57 straight non-televised contests ... Creighton improved to 19-14 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, and 5-7 in the Second Round ... Creighton has won 27 or matches each of the last five years, and nine times in program history ... Creighton has won 22 straight matches and snapped UNI's 22-match win streak, which started after its Sept. 14 loss to CU in Omaha ... The late ace in the fourth set for Wurtz gave her 36 this season in D.J. Sokol Arena, a mark that is the single season record...Martin closed the match with a season-high 14 digs, her fourth double-double of the season.