INDIANAPOLIS -- Butler was unable to hold onto an early lead, losing to Creighton 3-2 (25-18, 25-18, 16-25, 20-25, 13-15) in a compelling five-set affair at Hinkle Fieldhouse Saturday night. The Bulldogs remain in the top four in the BIG EAST standings with a 10-5 record against conference opponents while sitting at 18-9 overall. The Bluejays tighten their grasp on first place by moving to 20-7 overall, and 13-1 in conference play.

Belle Obert and Stephanie Kranda posted team-highs with 13 kills each, with Obert also recording 12 digs for the double-double. Makayla Ferguson anchored the Butler attack by making 36 assists while Brooke Ruffolo had a team-best 16 digs in the defeat.

The Butler frontline of Erica Stahl, Kayla Bivins, and Obert once again played a key role in the team's ability to slow down Creighton's offensive attack. Stahl posted a team-high 11 blocks while Bivins and Obert each ended the match with eight. The Bulldogs finished with 20 total team blocks to just nine for Creighton.

Both teams traded the lead early in set one until blocks by the Butler front line, as well as an ace by Ferguson, put Butler on a 5-0 run to bring the score to 9-4. The Bulldogs began to get into a rhythm as the score moved to 14-7 thanks to more blocks and kills by Kranda and Mary Striedl.

Butler pushed the lead to as great as 22-12 until Creighton began to mount a comeback, going on a 6-1 run to cut the lead to 23-18. Head coach Sharon Clark called timeout for Butler and the Bulldogs were able to regroup and seal the deal in the first set by scoring the final two points to clinch the victory, 25-18.

The second set started evenly yet again until Butler scored four-straight points to take an 8-4 lead. The Bulldogs' attack kept rolling with kills by Obert and Kranda to get out to a 23-15 lead. The Bluejays would go down swinging as they took three-straight points thanks to a pair of blocks by Kelli Browning to bring the lead to 23-18, forcing another Butler timeout. Kranda and Ferguson made consecutive kills to claim the victory in set two for the Bulldogs, 25-18.

Momentum didn't stay with Butler out of the break as Creighton opened the third set by getting out to a 10-4 lead, its largest of the match to that point. Butler narrowed the lead to 14-10 but the Bluejays recorded four-straight kills to take an 18-10 lead. With the Creighton lead at its highest at 22-11, the Bulldogs went on a 5-1 run to try to make a late comeback but came up short, losing set three 25-16.

The Bluejays picked up where they left off to start the fourth set, getting out to a 7-1 lead. The Bulldogs went on a 6-1 run to cut the Creighton lead to 8-7 with Stahl and Ferguson teaming up for two blocks during the run. The Bluejays answered immediately with a 7-0 run of their own, gaining a decisive 14-7 lead. Butler was able to narrow the lead to as little as four, but Creighton held on to win set four 25-20 to force a pivotal fifth set.

Neither team could take a significant lead early in the fifth set, until the Bluejays scored three-straight points, including two kills by Leah McNary, to take a 7-4 lead. The Bulldogs answered by scoring six of the next seven points to take a 10-8 advantage. The lead exchanged hands multiple times over the final points of the set until Jess Bird made the set-winning kill to give the Bluejays the 15-13 win in set five and the 3-2 victory in the match.

Butler will host rival Xavier in the team's next match at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Friday night. The action is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.