🏐 Kansas to Face No. 20 Creighton in NCAA Second Round

OMAHA, Neb. – After taking down No. 19 Oregon 3-0, the Kansas Jayhawks are moving on to face the No. 20 (14) Creighton Bluejays in the Round of 32 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. That match will take place on Friday, Dec. 2, and first serve is set for 7 p.m. CT.

Thursday’s victory against Oregon marked the first NCAA tournament match for the Jayhawks since 2017. It’s the program’s first NCAA win since topping Samford in the first round in 2016.

The Jayhawks are entering the match against Creighton on a five-game winning streak. They swept both TCU and Kansas State in their last two regular-season series and just defeated Oregon 3-0 in round one of the tournament.

Kansas had four players receive All-Big 12 recognitions on Tuesday. Caroline Bien was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year, as well as earned a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team and Rookie Team. Super-senior Jenny Mosser and sophomore Caroline Crawford were named to the All-Big 12 Second Team, while freshman Camryn Turner secured a spot on the All-Big 12 Rookie Team.

In addition to the All-Big 12 recognitions, Kansas also had two Big 12 weekly recognitions on Tuesday. Crawford was named the Defensive Player of the Week and Davis earned the Rookie of the Week title.

Creighton is 31-3 overall and finished at 16-2 in the Big East Conference. In the Big East Tournament, the Bluejays swept Marquette 3-0 for the conference title. The Bluejays have not lost a match since Oct. 16 against Connecticut when they fell 3-2. On Thursday following Kansas’ match, Creighton took down Ole Miss 3-0 by scores of 25-21, 25-15 and 25-13. In that match, Creighton hit .358. Creighton’s appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament marks their 10th straight and 11th overall.

The Jayhawks lead the overall series against the Bluejays 9-3. At home, Kansas is 6-2 against Creighton, and 3-1 on the road. The teams are familiar postseason rivals, and last met in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. KU and CU went to five sets, but Creighton came out victorious to take a trip to the Sweet Sixteen and then the Elite Eight where they fell 0-3 to Texas. The only other time the teams met in the postseason was in 2013 when the Jayhawks were victorious in four sets.

Up Next

The winner of the Kansas/Creighton matchup will move on to the Sweet Sixteen. The Sweet Sixteen is set to take place Dec. 9-10.