OMAHA (KMTV) — Creighton volleyball rallied in two back-and-forth sets and dominated the third to sweep Ole Miss 28-26, 27-25, 25-7 in the second round of the NCAA tournament Friday at D.J. Sokol Arena.
The Bluejays had a balanced attack at the net: Elise Goetzinger led the way with 12 kills, Ava Martin was right on her heels with 11, Norah Sis had 10 and Kendra Wait added eight (on nine tries for an 89% clip).
She also tallied 35 assists.
For the Rebels, Nia Washington had 11 kills, followed by Emma Ammerman with nine.
Creighton gutted out a back-and-forth first set 28-26.
At 24-23 Jays, an Emma Ammerman hit was called out. Rebels head coach Bre Henry challenged the call and won, which tied the set at 24.
The Jays fought off two set points before a Sis kill and a Kiara Reinhardt-Jaya Johnson stuff sealed it.
"Our preseason, conference season and then this season looks a little different, so I think we had to reframe our mind a little bit," Goetzinger said, "getting back to everybody's gonna be a good team, aggressive. They're gonna come out swinging so we have to swing back also. That's how it's gonna be the rest of this tournament."
Set two was a similar story, as both teams traded points and runs. At 25-25, Sis rattled off a kill and an ace to give the Creighton a two-set lead.
"Every timeout it was 'hey, we're gonna do this thing,'" Wait said. "There was no doubt, there was no hesitation. It was 'we're gonna go out there and take this set.' And so I think that's just a great mindset to go into for the rest of this tournament."
The Jays turned the page in the third set, pulling ahead 5-1, forcing the Rebels to call timeout.
CU rattled off four more points to make it 9-1 before Ole Miss called its second and final timeout of the set.
In total, Creighton went on a 15-1 run, including two aces from Martin, before a service error made it 15-2.
At match point, it was 24-7; Wait tipped down an overpass to send the Jays to their fourth Sweet Sixteen in program history.
Their opponent: two-time defending national champion Texas.
The time and location of the match will be determined after the North Carolina vs. Penn State second-round match Saturday at 5:30 central time.
