WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The No. 18 Creighton Volleyball team picked up its first Top-25 win of the year with a 3-0 win at Purdue on Saturday, Aug. 26. Scores of the nationally-televised victory were 28-26, 25-21, 25-20.
The victory made Creighton the first non-conference team to beat Purdue in West Lafayette since Kentucky on Aug. 27, 2016, snapping a 35-match win streak, and first non-conference club to sweep the Boilermakers at home since Dayton on Aug. 31, 2007.
Creighton improved to 2-0 with the win while Purdue dropped to 1-1 on the season. The Bluejays have now posted at least one top-25 victory in each of the last nine seasons, and own 24 top-25 wins all-time.
Sophomore
Ava Martin led the Creighton offense for the second straight match with 15 kills, while
Ellie Bolton paced the Bluejay defense with 22 digs. Creighton had 48 kills, six aces, 70 digs and nine blocks on .246 hitting.
"That was really fun," said
Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I felt like they followed game plan. We thought we matched up really well with them. They're led by three players and our job was to slow those three players down and make someone else beat us, and that's what we did. I thought we did a really good job at the net. I thought (Ellie) Bolton was special today defensively and in serve receive and against two of the best outside hitters in the country and she dug them really well."
The Bluejays won a tense first set to take control early on. CU led 24-20, only to squander six set points before finally converting. Booth inserted
Audrey Clark, a true freshman making her collegiate debut, to serve on the final set point and was rewarded as Purdue's attack return sailed long.
Ava Martin had seven kills and four digs while
Kiana Schmitt had three kills and three blocks to pace CU in the opening frame. Raven Colvin owned six of Purdue's 13 kills in the frame. The first set featured seven ties and a pair of lead changes.
"Lots of people came in and contributed," noted Booth. "We're still trying to figure out our serving specialists and what I did to
Audrey Clark was inhumane to throw her in at that point in the first set, and she was pretty clutch so I was really proud of her."
Creighton fell behind 14-8 in the second set, only to rally for the 25-21 victory. The Bluejays uncorked an 11-2 run behind the play of
Norah Sis, who had five kills and an ace in the set. Leading 21-20, the Bluejays pulled away before eventually taking the 2-0 lead on Sis' seventh kill of the afternoon.
Like the first two sets, the third game was a tight back-and-forth battle before Creighton ultimately emerged with the victory. With the score tied at 20-all, freshman
Sydney Breissinger served a 5-0 run to ice the sweep, with a kill from
Kendra Wait closing it out. The two-time All-American setter finished with 34 assists, 10 digs, five kills and five blocks while also serving a pair of aces.
Purdue was led by 10 kills from reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Eva Hudson, while the nation's top-ranked recruit Chloe Chicoine was limited to nine kills on .060 hitting in 50 swings. Denver transfer Lorrin Poulter had 25 assists and 12 digs to register a double-double for the Boilermakers. Purdue hit .148 and had 35 kills, 65 digs, seven blocks and two aces
