Jaali Winters‘ Creighton resume was already filled with accolades like two-time AVCA All-American, three-time All-Big East honoree and most recently Senior CLASS Award candidate, but the senior outside hitter added one more that will likely stick for a while – career kills leader.
Winters notched a match-high 16 kills as the Bluejays moved past St. John’s in a sweep to push her career tally to 1,633. The mark is not only monumental in Creighton lore, besting Leah Ratzlaff‘s mark of 1,622 from 2002-05 , but ranks her in the top three among active players nationally.
- Taylor Louis (Iowa) – 1,777
- Carlisa May (Arkansas State) – 1,646
- Jaali Winters (Creighton) -1,633
Winters needed just 17 kills coming into the weekend to top Ratzlaff’s record and picked up nine against Seton Hall on Friday. The Ankeny, Iowa notched her milestone kill midway through Set 2 against St. John’s on Sunday, and gave the Bluejays a 14-10 lead.
All told in the 25-15, 26-24, 25-19 sweep of St. John’s Winters notched a match-high 16 kills on a season-high .441 hitting effort to go with five digs, an assist and an ace.
SHE'S DONE IT! SAY HELLO TO THE HISTORY BOOKS, JAALI WINTERS!
She is officially the program's all-time kill leader with 1⃣,6⃣2⃣3⃣ kills!
Congratulations, Jaali!#GoJays🐦 pic.twitter.com/ABC04UwpRQ— Creighton Volleyball (@CreightonVB) October 7, 2018
The AVCA East Region and Big East Freshman of the Year racked up 546 putaways (4.07 per set) en route to third team All-America honors in 2015.
The 2016 season brought her 448 more putdowns (3.61 per set) as well as first team All-Big East, all-east region and AVCA honorable mention accolades.
As a junior, Winters turned in 398 kills (3.37 per set) on the way to her third All-Big East accolade. She notched her 1,000th career kill in the 2017 season opener against St. Mary’s, reaching the milestone in just 72 matches, the second fastest by a Bluejay player.
Thus far in 2018, Winters has racked up 241 kills (3.71 per set), including 13 double-digit efforts.
The win moves Creighton to 14-4, 6-0 in the Big East.
🗣️ Podium game for Jaali Winters!#GoJays pic.twitter.com/rSiAV22N3z
— Creighton Volleyball (@CreightonVB) October 7, 2018
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