In Marquette’s last realistic chance at the Big East regular season title, Creighton knocked off the Golden Eagles 3-1 on Friday in Milwaukee.
Standings – after Friday, October 26th, 2018
| SCHOOL | CONF | CPCT. | OVERALL | PCT. | HOME | AWAY | NEUTRAL | STREAK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creighton | 11-0 | 1.000 | 19-4 | 0.826 | 8-1 | 6-2 | 5-1 | W11 |
| Marquette | 9-2 | 0.818 | 19-5 | 0.792 | 9-3 | 6-2 | 4-0 | L1 |
| St. John’s | 8-4 | 0.667 | 19-8 | 0.704 | 10-2 | 5-4 | 4-2 | W3 |
| Georgetown | 6-6 | 0.500 | 13-11 | 0.542 | 8-4 | 3-6 | 2-1 | L3 |
| Villanova | 6-6 | 0.500 | 13-11 | 0.542 | 4-3 | 6-5 | 3-3 | W2 |
| Xavier | 6-6 | 0.500 | 8-15 | 0.348 | 4-3 | 4-6 | 0-6 | W2 |
| Butler | 4-8 | 0.333 | 7-17 | 0.292 | 5-7 | 2-6 | 0-4 | L2 |
| DePaul | 3-7 | 0.300 | 5-16 | 0.238 | 3-5 | 2-6 | 0-5 | L3 |
| Seton Hall | 3-9 | 0.250 | 8-17 | 0.320 | 3-7 | 1-8 | 4-2 | L2 |
| Providence | 1-9 | 0.100 | 7-14 | 0.333 | 4-5 | 0-7 | 3-2 | L8 |
#10 Creighton def. #15 Marquette 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 22-25, 25-19)
- Creighton moves to 19-4 (11-0 Big East); Marquette falls to 9-2 (19-5 Big East)
- Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Attendance: 1,154
- Box Score
- Recaps: Creighton // Marquette
In a battle of the two best in the Big East, the Creighton Blue Jays re-asserted their spot at the top of the heap with a 3-1 win over Marquette. The two teams already faced-off this season, in September, where Creighton won 3-0.
“I thought it was two good teams going at each other,” said Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. “It was really fun to be a part of. Our offense was good tonight and we definitely dug some balls which was good to see.”
Jaali Winters came out swinging iwth 9 kills and 6 digs in the first set en route to 25 in the match (2 errors, 52 swings, .442 hitting). That ties for her season-high in kills, matching the 25 kills (though hitting only .305) that she had in the opening match of the season against Kentucky in 5 sets. Winters also led the team with 19 digs.
Winters has been on-fire in the team’s last 8 games, where she’s averaging 4.25 kills/set and his hitting .329. In the team’s first game of the season, she averaged just 3.625/set and hitting .199.
“Jaali was so smart with where she was attacking,” said Booth. “They’d put four hands up and she found edges of block to go after, and defensively did a good job as well. I’m happy that everyone contributed to this win and that was great to see.”
Winters, last 8 Games
| Sets | Kills | Errors | Attacks |
Hitting Percentage
|
|
| vs. Xavier | 3 | 11 | 1 | 23 | 0.435 |
| vs. Seton Hall | 3 | 11 | 2 | 34 | 0.265 |
| vs. St. John’s | 3 | 16 | 1 | 34 | 0.441 |
| vs. Georgetown | 3 | 10 | 3 | 25 | 0.280 |
| vs. Villanova | 4 | 16 | 5 | 41 | 0.268 |
| vs. Xavier | 5 | 17 | 9 | 58 | 0.138 |
| vs. Butler | 3 | 13 | 1 | 22 | 0.545 |
| vs. Marquette | 4 | 25 | 2 | 52 | 0.442 |
| Total | 28 | 119 | 24 | 289 | 0.329 |
Key Match Takeaways:
- Marquette junior Allie Barber led her team with 22 kills, hitting .362;
- Marquette senior Anna Haak had her 7th double-double of the season with 13 kills and 11 digs.
- Megan Ballenger had 12 kills and hit .435 for Creighton.
- After hitting .439 against Butler, Creighton hit .331 as a team against Marquette. That’s their best weekend by hitting percentage this season.
St. John’s def. Butler 3-1 (16-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-20)
- St. John’s moves to 19-8 (8-4 Big East); Butler falls to 7-17 (4-8 Big East)
- Attendance: 350
- Box Score
- Recaps: St. John’s // Butler
The Big East’s most surprising team, St. John’s, stumbled early against Butler, but roared back to win the last 3 sets and remain in 3rd place in the conference. This marks the first time that St. John’s has ever won the season series with Butler: Butler was 8-2 against St. John’s entering the season, and pushed them to 5 sets in the teams’ first matchup of the season.
“A fantastic comeback win after dropping the first set on the road at Hinkle Fieldhouse. We were able to regroup and find our rhythm and get a big win,” St. John’s head coach Joanne Persico said. “Butler has a lot of offensive weapons so I was glad we were able to stabilize them.”
Butler hit .281 and held St. John’s to .029 in the first set. In the rest of the match, St. John’s hit .270 and held Butler to .126 across the last 3 sets.
Kayley Wood had just 3 kills and 2 errors in the first set for St. John’s (which actually led the team), but she erupted the rest of the way for 15 kills. That includes 2 kills in the last 3 points in set 3, 4 kills in the first 15 points of set 4, and the final point of the match via one last kill.
Key Match Takeaways:
- Efrosini Alexakou was step-for-step with Wood in leading the St. John’s offense, finishing with 16 kills and .344 hitting percentage.
- A trio of St. John’s players had 4 blocks each: Hanna Wagner, Nia Diaz, and Erica Di Maulo.
- Butler had a huge 15-8 blocks advantage, including 8 block assists from Melody Davidson, 7 from Bri Lilly, and 6 from Natalie Ravenell. Butler lead the Big East and rank 9th nationally with 2.9 blocks-per-set. Next-best is Xavier with just 2.3 blocks/set.
- Brooke Gregory was Butler’s only player in double-figures with 15 kills.
Villanova def. Georgetown 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-19)
- Villanova moves to 13-11 (6-6 Big East); Georgetown falls to 13-11 (6-6 Big East)
- Washington, D.C.
- Attendance: 327
- Box Score
- Recaps: Villanova // Georgetown
Villanova hit .226 and held Georgetown to .093 in a surprisingly-one-sided battle of mid-conference teams. Nobody in the match hit in double figures, but Clare Delaplane had 9 kills, 2 block assists, and 1 ace for a match-best 11 points.
Xavier def. Seton Hall 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20)
- Xavier moves to 8-15 (6-6 Big East); Seton Hall falls to 8-17 (3-8 Big East
- Attendance: 704
- Box Score
- Recaps: Xavier // Seton Hall
Xavier knocked off Seton Hall 3-1 on Friday led by a double-double from senior Laura Grossman. She had 12 kills and 15 digs. Seton Hall had 3 players in double figures: Abby Thelen had 16 kills, Caitlin Koska had 14, and Haylee Gasser had 13.
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