Big East: Creighton Moves to 5-0; Xavier Rallies Past ‘Nova at Home

Big East Roundup

Oct. 5

Creighton stayed perfect in Big East play with a  home sweep of Seton Hall, and Xavier pulled its record even at 3-3, surviving Villanova in five sets at home. St. John’s and Georgetown moved to 4-2 with road victories.

Results

Creighton def. Seton Hall 3-0

Xavier def. Villanova 3-2

Georgetown def. Butler 3-0

St. John’s def. Providence 3-1

Updated Standings

MATCH OF THE NIGHT

Xavier def. Villanova 3-2 (23-25, 25-27, 26-24, 25-23, 15-13)

• Xavier moves to 5-12, 3-3 Big East; Villanova falls to 10-8, 3-3 Big East
• Box Score
• Xavier Recap / Villanova Recap

Notables

• Xavier used 17 blocks to stifle the Villanova offense in the match, holding the Wildcats to a .126 hitting effort and forcing 35 hitting errors.
• Xavier outhit ‘Nova .151 to .126 and led 68-65 in kills and 17-8 in blocks. The Wildcats held a slight 4-3 advantage in aces.
• Meredith Klare racked up a career-high 40 digs in the win, the third most ever by a Xavier player.
• Seven players posted double-digit kills in the match, four from Xavier and three from Villanova.
  • Laura Grossman (16), Audrey Adams (14), Morgan Finn (13) and Moriah Hopkins (12) did the honors for the Musketeers. Grossman also chalked up 25 digs and five blocks in the match, while Adams put up eight stuffs alongside Jayda Carlton.
  • Amanda Pedersen-Henry notched a season-best 17 kills to lead all hitters for the Wildcats, while Clare Delaplane and Allie Olsonoski added 14 apiece. Delaplane finished off a double-double with 15 digs.
• Villanova rallied from down 11-9 in Set 5 to go up 12-11. Xavier came through in the end, however, with a final 4-1 push, including two Wildcat miscues. Adams issued the final kill at 15-13.

WATCH | Audrey Adams posts a kill on the final play of the match to cap the Musketeers come-from-behind victory over Villanova! #LetsGoX pic.twitter.com/bkXdZO0GXN

— Xavier Volleyball (@XavierVBALL) October 6, 2018

Creighton def. Seton Hall

• Creighton moves to 13-4, 5-0 Big East; Seton Hall falls to 5-14, 0-6
• Box Score
• Creighton Recap / Seton Hall Recap

Notables

• Creighton piled up 12 blocks (to 2) and held Seton Hall to a .174 hitting effort in the sweep. The Bluejays hit .298 on their own, including two .300-plus efforts.
• Taryn Kloth and Jaali Winters led the way for Creighton with 15 and 11 kills respectively. Kloth hit at a team-best .462 clip and put down the final two kills in the match, while Winters just missed a double-double, adding in nine digs.
• Madelyn Cole posted her sixth double-double of the year with 43 assists and 10 digs.
• Megan Ballenger, Naomi Hickman and Jaela Zimmerman posted six blocks apiece for Creighton.
• Haylee Gasser (season-high 10), Caitlin Koska (9) and Abby Thelen (8) paced the Seton Hall offense.

Georgetown def. Butler 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-21)

• Georgetown moves to 11-7, 4-2 Big East; Butler falls to 5-13, 2-4 Big East
• Box Score
• Georgetown Recap / Butler Recap

Notables

• Butler outdid the Hoyas on the block (10-5), but trailed in hitting efficiency (.197 to .154), kills (46-29) and aces (6-4) in the loss.
• Alyssa Sinnette was the lone player to post double-digit kills in the match, turning in 15 for the Hoyas. Elissa Barbosa and Hannah Hamling chipped in nine apiece, while Symone Speech added seven putaways and a team-best five blocks.
• Brooke Gregory paced the Bulldogs with nine kills on a .350 hitting effort. Rachel Klitzing (7) and Natalie Ravenell (6) followed. Bri Lilly posted five blocks.
• The Hoyas snapped an 11-all tie with a 6-0 run in Set 3 and held on for the win from there. Butler sliced the margin to two at 23-21 before a Sinnette kill and hitting error ended the night at 25-21.

St. John’s def. Providence 3-1 (24-26, 25-23, 25-21, 25-18)

• St. John’s moves to 15-6, 4-2 Big East; Providence falls to 7-9, 1-4 Big East
• Box Score
• St. John’s Recap / Providence Recap

Notables

• Providence opened the match with a .419 hitting effort in Set 1, but fell off after that, ending with a -.024 effort in Set 4 and managing just a .170 total match efficiency.
• St. John’s standout offensive effort came in Set 2 with a .381 clip, although the team ended strong as well with a .286 clip.
• St. John’s outhit Providence .264 to .170 and bested the Friars in kills (61-49) and blocks (9-8). Providence served up nine aces (to 6).
• Kayley Wood racked up a match-high 20 kills to lead the Red Storm, while Efrosini Alexakou turned in a 14-kill, 16-dig double-double. Nia Diaz added 11 putaways on a team-best .435 clip to go with four blocks.
• Addison Root posted 16 kills, eight digs and two aces for Providence, while Allison Impellizeri tacked on 13 putaways, four blocks and an ace. Jenae Alderson just missed a double-double with 20 digs and nine digs, but hit just .034.
• St. John’s broke away with a 6-1 run to start Set 4,with help from three Providence errors. The Friars fought all the way back to take an 18-17 lead of their own on a Lindsey Schaible ace. It was all Red Storm from there, however, as the team capped the win on a 8-0 run, including three Alexakou kills.

Next Up

Marquette at DePaul – 1 p.m. ET Saturday

Georgetown at Xavier – 6 p.m. ET Saturday

Villanova at Butler – 6 p.m. ET Saturday