Match Stats
- Nebraska def. Creighton 3-2 (22-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-10)
- Nebraska moves to 5-1; Creighton falls to 4-3
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Attendance: 14,022 – the largest regular season crowd in NCAA history
- Box Score
Nebraska was 17-0 against Creighton coming into the night and had never allowed the Bluejays more than one set victory in those contests.
All that changed, however, on Thursday night as Creighton took a 2-0 lead in the match, capitalizing on Husker miscues and a stellar all-around effort by senior outside hitter Taryn Kloth. Through the first two stanzas, Kloth was on a tear, notching 15 kills and three stuffs, while hitting at a .600 clip. Meanwhile, Nebraska aided the Bluejay effort with 11 hitting errors, five service errors and two blocking errors.
From there, however, the Huskers turned it around and pulled off the comeback to deny Creighton once again.
Nebraska jumped ahead 6-1 in Set 3 and never looked back in a 25-18 win. Nebraska, which hit .222 and put up four blocks in the stanza, did not allow Creighton closer than three the rest of the way. The Bluejays lost their offensive footing, hitting just .023 after a .457 effort in Set 2.
Nebraska worked its way to a 20-14 lead in Set 4 and held off a late Creighton run for the 25-22 victory to force a decisive fifth set. The Huskers hit .265 and held the Bluejays to a .162 effort in the stanza. Creighton was within two at 24-22, thwarting two Nebraska set-point tries and forcing John Cook to all timeout. Mikaela Foecke downed her 20th kill to end it.
In the decisive fifth set, Nebraska led 8-5 at the changeover after a block and a kill by Foecke. A stuff by Foecke and Callie Schwarzenbach gave the Huskers their largest lead at 9-5. The Bluejays were within one at 10-9 after a kill and a block by Kloth. The Huskers countered with three in a row, including back to back aces by Foecke, forcing Creighton to burn both of its timeouts. Kloth notched her career-high 26th kill to make it 13-10, but a kill by Jazz Sweet and an ace by Kenzie Maloney wrapped up the comeback.
Foecke notched five kills, two blocks and two aces in the final stanza.
Stat Leaders: Creighton became the first team this season to hit above .200 with a .207 clip, but was outhit by the Huskers (.258). Nebraska also held the advantage in kills (64-62), aces (10-5) and digs (77-73). The Bluejays boasted an 8-7.5 lead in blocks. Nebraska hit .250 or better in all but Set 3 (.222), while Creighton hit .262 and .457 in the first two stanza, but failed to break .165 after that.
Key Stats: Mikaela Foecke paced the Huskers with a 25-kill, 13-dig double-double to go with team highs of five blocks and four aces. Capri Davis (18) and Jazz Sweet (12) followed offensively. Kenzie Maloney was tops on defense with 25 digs, while setter Nicklin Hames turned in 11 saves to round out a double-double with 56 assists.
Taryn Kloth downed a career-high 26 kills, while hitting at a match-high .400 clip and adding five digs, four blocks and an ace for the Bluejays. Jaali Winters registered an 18-kill, 18-dig double-double. Jaela Zimmerman also reached double digits in kills with 10 putaways. Alexa Roumeliotis and Brittany Witt pulled up 16 digs apiece, while Madelyn Cole served up a team-high three aces.
Thank you fans, you are a part of the largest regular season, single match crowd in NCAA Volleyball history. Tonight’s record attendance is 14,022!@NCAAVolleyball @NCAA @AVCAVolleyball #GoJays pic.twitter.com/L7SVyGrycT
— Creighton Volleyball (@CreightonVB) September 7, 2018
Foeke is an absolute cold hearted killer. 5 blocks, 4 aces,13 digs as WELL as 25 kills