OMAHA, Neb. -- Norah Sis and Ava Martin combined for 45 kills to lead No. 15 Creighton Volleyball to its eighth BIG EAST Tournament title in the last nine years with a 3-2 win vs. No. 14 Marquette on Saturday evening at D.J. Sokol Arena. Creighton has now beaten Marquette in five of the last six BIG EAST Tournament finals.

Scores of the match in CU's favor were 16-25, 25-20, 25-18, 31-33, 15-12.

Sis was named Tournament MVP for the second straight season and was joined by Martin and Kendra Wait on the All-Tournament Team. The BIG EAST Player of the Year, Sis led Creighton (27-4) with 23 kills while BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Martin authored a season-best 22 kills on .333 hitting. Wait had 60 assists, 20 digs and seven blocks and Allison Whitten finished with 21 digs. Also registering a double-double was Kiana Schmitt, who had 11 kills and 10 blocks. The Bluejays had 74 kills, five aces, 87 digs and 13.0 blocks on .278 hitting.

Marquette (27-3) was paced by a match-best 25 kills by Aubrey Hamilton, who also added 15 digs. BIG EAST Setter of the Year Yadhira Anchante had 57 assists and 25 digs in the contest. The Golden Eagles finished with 74 kills, six aces, 90 digs and seven blocks on .264 hitting.

Top-seeded Marquette, seeking its first league tournament title since 2013, never trailed in a dominant first set in which it hit .349. The Golden Eagles led 8-2 out of the chute and pulled away down the stretch with a 10-3 run after the Jays had closed to within 15-13. Hamilton had seven kills and Anchante owned 13 assists to go with seven digs.

CU took its first lead of the match during a 5-0 service run from freshman Sky McCune that gave the hosts a 10-7 lead in set two. Marquette clawed back to tie the score at 14-all before the Jays steadily broke free from the regular-season co-champion. Martin's fourth kill of the set proved to be the clincher as the Bluejays hit .472 and four women had three or more kills.

Creighton took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-18 victory in the third set, hitting .405 as Wait dished 13 assists and had nine of CU's 22 digs. Both Sis and Martin landed six kills and Jazz Schmidt had three blocks to go with three kills.

The fourth set proved to be CU's highest-scoring frame of the season and featured 16 ties and five lead changes as both teams pushed each other into exhaustion. The teams would be tied at 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 before finally Marquette prevailed.

The Golden Eagles saved a CU match point at 31-30 and answered with a 3-0 run to force a decisive fifth set. Hamilton had 10 kills on 24 swings in the fourth set and Anchante owned 20 assists and nine digs in the frame. Sis had eight kills and Martin seven more for a Bluejay offense that it .310 and finished with 23 kills. Wait distributed 21 assists in the marathon fourth set.

The title match went to a fifth set for the first time since 2017 in Milwaukee and just as it did then, Creighton earned the victory over MU. Creighton led by three points early before MU rallied to tie the score at 7-all. The Golden Eagles took its only lead at 9-8, only to have CU score four of the next five points for a 12-10 lead.

The Jays earned a match point chance at 14-11 on a kill from Martin and one sideout later secured the title when Schmitt and Wait teamed to block Hamilton. Marquette had more kills (7-6) than CU in the fifth set, but were also blocked four times and committed five service errors in front of the near-sellout crowd of 2,037.

Both teams are NCAA bound and in position to host when pairings are announced on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Central on ESPNU. The Bluejay team will watch the selections from DJ's Dugout (777 N. 114th Street), with the public and media welcome to attend.