Creighton Volleyball Defeats DePaul

OMAHA, Neb. -- Four Bluejays posted career-highs as Creighton Volleyball defended its home court in four sets over DePaul in a battle of BIG EAST unbeatens on Friday night at D.J. Sokol Arena. Scores of Creighton's 30th straight win over the Blue Demons were 25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 25-17.

Abbey Hayes led Creighton (8-7, 3-0 BIG EAST) with 10 kills and served a career-high four aces, Katie Dalton put down a career-high eight kills and Nora Wurtz (8) and Ashlyn Paymal (7) had career-bests in blocks to lead the Bluejays to its conference-record 50th regular-season win in BIG EAST play.

DePaul  (11-4, 3-1 BIG EAST) was led by 17 kills from Kendall Timme, including eight in the Blue Demons' third set victory. 

DePaul setter Leonor Polezzi opened the match with an ace before Creighton responded with seven of the next eight points to take the lead for good in set one. The Jays got an ace from Hayes to move in front 15-7 at the technical timeout, only to have the Blue Demons counter with six points in a row to get within a pair. Back-to-back blocks by Wurtz and Paymal extended CU's margin to 20-15 and the Jays closed out the opener on a kill from Dalton to take a 25-22 decision.  Creighton hit .333 in the lid-lifter with Ayden Ames owning four kills and Dalton distributing eight assists.

DePaul blitzed to a 12-6 lead to open the second set before Creghton answered with a 13-2 run to reclaim control. Dalton was behind the service line for the crucial 8-0 spurt to give the Jays a 19-14 lead.  Creighton converted its fourth set point try on a Blue Demons attack error to win 25-22.  Hayes had two aces and Saige Damrow and Sydney Breissinger each owned five digs in the second frame for CU as the Jays held DePaul to .000 hitting in 34 swings.

DePaul was down 5-2 in the third set before Polezzi served a pair of aces during a 6-0 run. The Blue Demons led 15-8 at the technical timeout and held off several challenges by the hosts as Creighton got within three on several occasions.  DePaul hit .300 in the third set and outblocked CU 2-1.

Creighton raced to leads of 6-2, 12-6 and 20-11 in the fourth set before wrapping up a 25-17 victory on Hayes' 10th kill of the night.  Dalton had three kills and three blocks while setting the Bluejay offense to a .333 hitting percentage as CU won its third set of the night to close out the victory that saw the Jays move to 3-0 in BIG EAST play.

Creighton hosts Marquette on Sunday at 1 p.m. in a contest that will be streamed on ESPN+.