Creighton volleyball coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth and senior outside hitter Norah Sis sat next to each other at the front of the room in the depths of the Devaney Center, their usual smiles nowhere to be found.

Not Tuesday night. Not in the aftermath of the No. 9 Bluejays’ 25-19, 25-16, 31-33, 16-25, 15-10 loss to No. 5 Nebraska in one of the best matches between the in-state rivals. Not after another loss to the Huskers, who they’ve never beaten in 23 tries.

“I want ’em to be (mad),” Booth said. “They should be mad.”

Taking one of the best teams in the country to the brink is no longer a moral victory. Not for these Jays (5-1), who returned the bulk of last year’s Sweet 16 team. They expected to win — and had a chance to after being dominated through the first two sets but rallying to force a fifth.

“We’re disappointed that we didn’t pull the match out,” Booth said. “I told the team beforehand that this is one match of many over the next couple of weeks that are gonna be good — good teams, résumé opportunities.

“And we’re disappointed we didn’t seize this opportunity tonight.”

NU (6-1) slammed the door at endgame. The Huskers hit .444 in the fifth and killed any momentum CU swung its way by siding out at 90% in the set. Nebraska rode a Big Red wave provided by a crowd that had been silenced in the previous two sets.

“What we had in the end of Set 3 is what we needed to bring at the beginning of Set 5, and I thought we kind of went back on our heels as compared to being the aggressor in three and four,” Booth said. “But what a great learning opportunity for our team.”

Said Sis: “The fact that we showed we can fight with any top team in the country, I think that’s only gonna keep us going forward.”

The Jays opened the third set on the verge of being swept by the Huskers for the first time since 2021 — still the only time in the past seven meetings — and swept at all for the first time since last October’s match at Marquette.

The senior outside hitter had 11 kills on 21 swings in the third and traded blows with Husker star Harper Murray in crunch time. Sis used consecutive kills to tie the set 23-23 and another three after that to help CU win the highest-scoring set in series history.

“Norah’s done that her entire career, especially in the last two weeks,” Booth said of Sis, who had a match-high 24 kills on 65 swings. “She carries a lot of the load for us. She’s big in big moments, and she did that again today.”

The spark Sis gave the Jays in the third carried into the fourth — the most dominant set Creighton has ever had against Nebraska.

The Papillion-La Vista grad opened the fourth with three kills on three swings. She helped the Jays flip the script on the first two sets, finally finding the floor with hard-hit attacks and a defense that stymied the Huskers. Devaney was silent for the first time all night.

CU hit .306 in the fourth while holding NU to minus-.024. The Jays, who played well out of system after struggling early, finished the long rallies that the Huskers fed off of.

“I thought Nebraska played well for four sets. They did not play well (in the fourth),” Booth said. “They were making errors during that set. I thought they were good in the other four. Set 4, things got ugly for them.”

Creighton doesn’t have long to sulk in this one. Booth doesn’t want the Jays to, anyway.

They get another crack at more of the country’s top teams this weekend at the Cardinal Classic in Louisville, Kentucky. There they’ll play Missouri Valley powerhouse Northern Iowa, annual AAC contender Rice and No. 4 Louisville.

“How are we going to respond?” Booth said. “Just as I tell them they can enjoy a win for about 15 minutes, they can wallow in this loss for 15 minutes. Then we’ve gotta go get better.”