No. 16 Marquette sweeps No. 11 Creighton for BIG EAST title

Box Score (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The No. 16 Marquette University women's volleyball team claimed a share of its third BIG EAST Conference regular season title with a 25-19, 25-19, 25-21 sweep of No. 11 Creighton on Saturday evening at a packed Al McGuire Center.

"It was a great effort and fun," said MU head coach Ryan Theis. "I thought our team really started out so efficient, but (Creighton) just wouldn't make any hitting errors. I still thought we were playing relatively good defense and really good service pressure was the story all night."

The Golden Eagles' (26-2, 17-1 BIG EAST) league championship is their second consecutive title after also sharing honors with Creighton last season. Sophomore outside hitter Jenna Reitsma led Marquette with 11 kills, while MU hit a combined .274 (44-13-113) against .219 (40-15-114) for the Jays. Reitsma also posted three of MU's nine service aces on the day, including a pair in the opening set.

"It was a really fun win for us," Reitsma said. "We love playing Creighton. They're a great team and we had great support here at the Al. It was a really fun environment and it kind of brought momentum for us. We played great, really clean. We had a really good serving and passing night tonight."

The audience on Saturday night included 3,175 people in attendance, one of the largest volleyball crowds in Marquette history.

"I just love the volleyball community that is here," Theis said. "Pretty much everybody that I know in my 20 years of volleyball in the Marquette area was here. It was great to have a pretty volleyball-savvy crowd to know what's going on, when to cheer and when to help us."

Sophomore Norah Sis posted a match-high 16 kills to lead the Bluejays (25-4, 17-1 BIG EAST).

NOTABLE:

The win is Marquette's third over a ranked team this season. MU has defeated then-No. 11 Kentucky, then-No. 25 Illinois and now No. 11 Creighton.
The sweep marks MU's first win over the Bluejays since a sweep in Omaha on Feb. 6, 2021. MU last claimed a home victory over Creighton on Oct. 5, 2017 and now owns five regular season wins over the Jays.
The Golden Eagles are 6-25 against Creighton all-time and fell to the Bluejays, 3-2, earlier this season on Oct. 14.
On Oct. 14, the Golden Eagles captured the first two frames, 25-21 and 25-22, before dropping the final three, 25-19, 25-16, 15-8. Reitsma and Aubrey Hamilton each led MU with 13 kills, while Anchante had 47 assists and 16 digs.
Since CU joined the BIG EAST for the 2013 campaign, MU is 5-20 against Creighton including a pair of wins during that first season, one of which came at MU in the regular season and the other in the 2013 BIG EAST title match in Omaha.
Saturday marked the ninth top-25 matchup in the series and the fourth time the two teams have both been ranked in the top-16 of the AVCA Coaches Poll
The two squads entered the match ranked in the top-six nationally in kills per set.
Reitsma had a match-high 13 digs and MU had 57 over just three sets.
Through matches as of Nov. 13, Creighton was No. 13 in the NCAA RPI rankings, while Marquette was 14th. The NCAA Selection Committee will choose 16 teams to host regionals in the first and second rounds. The NCAA Selection Show is Sunday, Nov. 27 at 6:30 p.m. Central time on ESPNU.
MU's Carsen Murray entered the match tops in the league in hitting percentage (.422) and hit .714 (5-0-7) on the night.
Creighton entered the contest on a 17-match winning streak and clinched a share of its ninth-straight BIG EAST regular season championship with Friday night's sweep of DePaul. MU won the regular season crown in Creighton's first year in the league in 2013 and also split the title with the Jays last year.
The Bluejays had won a program-record 29 straight sets heading into Saturday.
The two teams entered the match as the league's top two squads in hitting percentage (MU: .293; CU: .268) and opponent hitting percentage (MU: .173; CU: .161)

UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles head to Omaha, Nebraska as the No. 1 seed in the 2022 BIG EAST Women's Volleyball Championship. They have received a bye into the league semifinals and will take on the winner of the 4/5 matchup on Friday, Nov. 25 at D.J. Sokol Arena. The quarterfinal and semifinal matches air live on the BIG EAST Digital Network through FloSports, while Saturday's title bout will air live on FS2.

Keep up with the Marquette University women's volleyball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteVB) and Instagram (@MarquetteVB) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball).