ST. LOUIS — Alicia Runge had 15 kills and Karisa Almgren a career-best 12 kills on Friday as Creighton avenged a 2009 defeat with a 25-22, 25-18, 25-21 win over defending Atlantic-10 Conference champion Saint Louis.
It was Saint Louis’ first loss at home to an unranked team since Oct. 20, 2006, against Dayton.
“We did a nice job late in the first set and that set the tone for the match,” CU coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “I thought Karisa had a great job stepping up and carrying a lot of the offensive load. I think Saint Louis is a great defensive team. For us to out-dig them by 11 digs is a great accomplishment.”
Creighton (2-3) overcame deficits of 9-4 and 16-12 in the first set.
Almgren had four kills to help carry the offense early, and Allie Oelke and Runge carried the load late. Creighton had 28 digs in the first set, including seven from Oelke, while holding the hosts to .102 hitting.
Heather Thorson served the Jays to a 6-0 lead to open the second set and CU never looked back. Creighton built leads of 13-5 and 20-12 while cruising to the win. Creighton got six kills in the set by Runge and held SLU to .025 hitting.
The third set featured 12 ties and eight lead changes. Creighton trailed 19-16 late before a seven-point scoring run gave them a comfortable 23-19 lead. The Jays would close out the contest with an Oelke kill.
Runge led Creighton with 15 kills while also posting a season-high five blocks. Almgren had 12 kills while hitting .400, consistently finding holes in the Billiken block. Four players had 10 or more digs, including 18 from Nayka Benitez, 17 by Oelke and 15 from Julianne Mandolfo. Freshman Savannah Smith topped CU with a career-best seven blocks.
Creighton returns to action with a pair of matches on Saturday — against Iowa (3-1) at 11:30 a.m. and Wake Forest (3-1) at 5 p.m. Wake Forest defeated the Hawkeyes in four sets earlier on Friday to open the tournament.
At Saint Louis (1-3)....................22 18 21
CU (kills-aces-blocks): Thorson 2-2-3, Oelke 9-0-4, Smith 4-0-7, Bober 3-0-0, Runge 15-0-5, Boggs 1-1-0, Benitez 0-0-0, Almgren 12-0-3. Totals 46-3-22.
SL (kills-aces-blocks): Beaty 4-2-3, Kvitle 1-1-0, Deno 7-0-1, Marcum 5-0-4, Schumacher 3-0-1, Boken 6-1-0, Gaillot 0-2-0. Totals 26-6-9.
Set assists: CU 42 (Bober 37, Benitez 4, Mandolfo 1), SL 24 (Kvitle 23, Schumacher 1). A: 517.
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