Volleyball falls in five to Creighton in BIG EAST Championship

Box Score (PDF)

OMAHA, Nebraska – The top-seeded and No. 14 Marquette University women's volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking five-set loss to No. 15 Creighton (16-25, 25-20, 25-18, 31-33, 15-12) at D.J. Sokol Arena on Saturday evening in the 2022 BIG EAST Conference Women's Volleyball Championship presented by JEEP.

Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton led the Golden Eagles (27-3) with a match and career-high 25 kills, while MU hit .270 as a team. Hamilton was joined on the All-BIG EAST Championship Team by libero Carly Skrabak, who posted 19 of MU's season-high 89 digs.

Marquette had to fight through a marathon fourth set and ended up forcing the deciding fifth frame on their eighth set-point at 33-31. The Golden Eagles took a 9-8 lead in the final set on a Creighton attack error but could not overcome five service errors in the final stanza.

"Credit to Creighton," said MU head coach Ryan Theis. "I would have liked to have gotten a little more service pressure on them. It was awfully close but we gave a few too many away. If we can have a great weekend next weekend they'll be able to forget about this."

Creighton (27-4) was paced by 23 kills from tournament most outstanding player Norah Sis, while freshman Ava Martin had 22 on the night.

"They didn't give us much and they increased service pressure, which we thought they would, especially at home," Theis said. "They weren't a big sideline serving team during the regular season but they put pressure on the sidelines today, which we hadn't seen much. A credit to our passers for playing it off, but that combination plus very good defense made it tough to score."

NOTABLE:

The Golden Eagles earned the tournament's top seed after sweeping then-No. 11 Creighton last Saturday to stake a share of the league's regular season title for the second time in as many years. MU won the tiebreaker over the Bluejays by virtue of their 5-3 set record against CU this season.
The Golden Eagles are 13-14 all-time in the BIG EAST Championship and won the 2013 tournament title in Omaha over Creighton.
Marquette has advanced to the title matchup on eight occasions but is just 1-7 in those contests.
MU is 5-4 in the five years when the tournament has been played at D.J. Sokol Arena (2013. 2015, 2018, 2020-21, 2022).
The Golden Eagles are 6-26 against Creighton all-time. Since CU joined the BIG EAST for the 2013 campaign, MU is 5-21 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.
MU is 1-6 against the Jays in BIG EAST tournament action and 1-5 in the final.
Creighton has won all seven five-set matchups in the series.
MU previously swept Creighton on Nov. 19 in Milwaukee and suffered a reverse sweep at Sokol Arena on Oct. 14 after taking a 2-0 lead on Creighton.
Since Oct. 17, the Bluejays have won 33-of-35 sets with the lone five losses coming against Marquette.
MU had won 38-of-44 sets since its 3-2 loss at then-No. 21 Creighton on Oct. 14.

2022 BIG EAST All-Tournament Team
Creighton, Norah Sis, So., OH*
Creighton, Ava Martin, Fr., OH
Creighton, Kendra Wait, So., S
Marquette, Aubrey Hamilton, Jr., OH
Marquette, Carly Skrabak, Sr., L
UConn, Caylee Parker, Sr., OH
Xavier, Maryann O'Toole, Sr., OH
*BIG EAST Volleyball Tournament Most Outstanding Player

UP NEXT: The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Selection Show is set for Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Central time on ESPNU. The Golden Eagles will host a viewing party at the Union Sports Annex (corner N. 16th Street and W. Wells) that is open to the public and media.

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).