Creighton Blue Jays volleyball follows Ava Martin's lead in NCAA tournament thriller vs. Arizona State

The seedings on the bracket would've made the Creighton Blue Jays an underdog on Thursday afternoon in the NCAA women's volleyball tournament.

But 3-seed Creighton had Ava Martin, and 2-seed Arizona State didn't. And that was more than enough to make up for any apparent underdog status.

The starring Martin led a trio of big hitting performances from the Blue Jays to advance to a regional final.

Creighton won the key swing set right off the bat, a 26-24 first-set win. The Sun Devils bounced back with a 25-19 second set win. But then in the third, the Blue Jays rolled, 25-13, setting the tone for a 25-18 fourth-set clincher.

Martin, the Big East Player of the Year, finished her day with these numbers:

• 23 kills
• .388 hitting percentage
• 5 digs

Kiara Reinhardt (15) and Jaya Johnson (12) each had double-digit kills for the Blue Jays, too, with Reinhardt throwing down a huge hit out of the middle to extend Creighton's season. Abbey Hayes added nine kills.

They relied on setter Annalea Maeder, who finished with 56 assists on the afternoon and also had double-digit digs (16).

Sydney Breissinger led the defense with 20 digs.

The Blue Jays will take on the winner of host Kentucky and Cal Poly in the regional final, which is the Elite Eight of the tournament.

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