OMAHA, Neb. - Facing one of their toughest opponents of the season, the Mavericks pushed No. 17 Creighton University to their limits, but ultimately came up just short, falling 2-3 Saturday afternoon to kick off River City Rivalry Week and end the Omaha Invite presented by Sarpy County Tourism.

Omaha drops to 4-3 on the season, while the Bluejays improve to 7-2 and take the all-time series lead at 10-9.

Set by Set (31-29, 23-25, 14-25, 25-23, 13-15)

• In set one, the Mavericks made it clear that they were not to be taken lightly by their crosstown rivals. Leading for almost the entire set, Sami Clarkson started things off with a service ace on the opening serve. Omaha would go on to get kills from six different players, including seven from McKenna Ruch and six from Marriah Buss. Things really began to heat up late in the set when Creighton staged a strong comeback to take a 24-23 lead. From there, both teams refused to go down as the score remained tied all the way to 29-29. The Mavericks were finally able to break the stalemate after back-to-back kills from Buss, followed by a set-winning block from Morgan DeBow and Clarkson.
• Omaha again came out to an early lead in set two, at one point scoring five straight to go up 8-4 lead. At one point, Shayla McCormick notched two aces in a row during this run. After Ruch scored a kill to make it 23-20, it seemed the Mavericks would take their second set of the day. Unfortunately, the Bluejays came right back and scored five unanswered to tie up the match.
• Set three was all Creighton from the very beginning. Omaha quickly found itself in a 7-1 hole and was never quite able to recover. Despite four more kills from Ruch and another ace from Clarkson, Creighton's unrelenting attack was too much to overcome.
• Trailing for the first time today, the Mavericks were gifted an early lead due to a couple of service errors and an attack error by Creighton. McCormick immediately built on this by adding a pair of kills, while Buss would later score three kills in a row to give Omaha a 12-8 lead. After the Bluejays regained their momentum and took a 20-19 lead, two more kills and a block from McCormick helped Omaha get back out in front. Just as the set began for the Mavericks, it ended the same way as Creighton committed its fourth service error to hand them the win.
• Omaha wasted no time capitalizing on its newfound life in set five, coming out to a 6-2 lead thanks in part to a couple of kills and a blocked shot from Kali Jurgensmeier. However, the Bluejays slowly started chipping away at their deficit, eventually taking a 13-12 lead. McCormick tied it up again with another kill, but Creighton was quick to respond with a kill and a blocked shot to close out the match.

Inside the Box Score

• Despite falling short of victory, the Mavericks led the Bluejays in points (91-86), kills (74-70), aces (5-4), and assists (72-68).
• Buss and McCormick were tied for the match-lead in kills at 21 each. This was the second match this year that Buss topped 20 kills, while McCormick has reached that mark three times in 2022. She also led the team in digs, matching a career-high 20, and picked up her fourth double-double of the season.
• Clarkson tied her career best with 61 assists today, as well as recording her first double-double of the season with 11 additional digs.
• Ruch also tied a career best with her 18 kills in the match.
• DeBow led all players with seven total blocks, giving her a new career high.

Up Next
The Mavericks will hit the road next week and head to Lawrence, Kansas for the Jayhawk Classic. They'll begin competition on Thursday, September 15, with a match against Central Florida. On Friday they'll face off with Lipscomb, before closing things out on Saturday against the hosting school, Kansas.