Creighton Volleyball Dominates UConn in Pink Out Sweep

OMAHA, Neb. -- Ayden Ames, Ashlyn Paymal and Eloise Brandewie combined for 23 kills in 37 erorrless swings as Creighton Volleyball swept Connecticut on Thursday night in its annual Pink Out match. The victory was broadcast nationally on FS1.

Scores of Creighton's 18th straight Pink Out victory were 25-15, 25-18, 25-14. Creighton is now 12-9 on the season and stands one-half game behind Marquette in the BIG EAST standings with a 7-2 league record. UConn dropped to 8-14 overall and 1-8 in conference play after its sixth straight 3-0 loss against CU.

Making her first start at middle blocker in more than a month, Ames had 10 kills in 14 swings to hit .714 and pace the Bluejay offense. Fellow middle blocker Brandewie had six kills and a match-high four blocks while hitting .462, and Paymal put down seven kills in 10 swings to hit .700 with a pair of blocks. Saige Damrow led the Bluejay defense with 15 digs and Katie Dalton finished with 30 assists and nine digs while quarterbacking the Bluejay offense.

Creighton hit .359 in the match with 42 kills in 92 swings. The Bluejays also served up nine aces, outblocked UConn 7-3 and dominated the dig battle 52-33.

UConn was led by eight kills and two aces by Maja Daca. Audrey Jensen set for the majority of the match and had 20 assists while Hazuna Akshige led the Huskies with nine digs. UConn tallied 27 kills, five aces and hit .119 as a team.

UConn's only lead of the night came at 5-4 in the first set after back-to-back kills by Daca. CU countered with a 5-0 serving run by Damrow that featured a pair of aces, and freshman Peyton Carlson served an ace on set point to ice the 25-15 victory in the opener.  Ames had three kills and three blocks for the Jays in set one.

Sydney Breissinger served a 7-0 run in set two and a 6-0 run in set three. Her set two blitz gave the hosts a 9-2 lead and included a pair of aces as the senior moved into third place on CU's all-time aces list. The lead reached 15-8 at the media timeout and finished 25-18 after a service miscue from UConn's Olivia Pasternak.  CU hit .355 in the second set with Trinity Shadd-Ceres putting down four of her 10 kills on the evening.

Breissinger's third set run pushed the Bluejay advantage to 20-11. UConn's eighth service error of the night ended the contest as the Bluejays closed out their third sweep of the season. Creighton hit .412 in the third set, including five kills by Shadd-Ceres. 

Creighton hosts Providence on Friday at 6 p.m.