Creighton University
EVANSVILLE
Volleyball Trumps Aces With 3-0 Sweep
11/19/2010 8:42:00 PM | Volleyball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Laurel Sanford had 12 kills to lead four Bluejays in double-figures as Creighton picked up a 3-0 win over visiting Evansville on Friday. Scores of the match in favor of Creighton were 25-20, 25-15, 25-16.
The win improves Creighton to 17-10 on the year and 12-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Evansville dropped its 10th straight match after a strong start and is now 16-13 on the year. The loss dropped the Purple Aces to 5-12 in MVC play, eliminating it from contention for a spot to next week's six-team State Farm MVC Tournament when combined with wins on Friday night by Illinois State and Drake.
Creighton hit .372 in the first set while piling up 26 digs to take a 25-20 win over the Purple Aces. Alicia Runge had six kills on nine swings and Allie Oelke showed her all-around versatility with four kills, five digs and three aces.
In the second set, Creighton overcame an early 7-4 deficit with seven straight points on Julianne Mandolfo's serve to take the lead for good. The Jays steadily pulled away, eventually closing out the 25-15 victory on a Nayka Benitez ace. Creighton hit a robust .452 in the second set, including five kills each by Sanford and Karisa Almgren.
In the third set Creighton used an 8-1 run with Brooke Boggs and Oelke serving to go ahead 11-6. Evansville coach Mike Swan was then issued a yellow card, followed by a red card, to hand the Jays another point. Creighton would cruise home to victory, winning on a match-ending tandem block by Megan Bober and Savannah Smith.
In addition to Sanford's 12 kills, the junior also hit .391 and led the Jays with four blocks. Runge had 11 kills on .391 hitting, while Almgren and Oelke each had 10 kills. Oelke also had 13 digs and three aces for her fourth straight double-double against UE. Benitez had a match-best 23 digs to go with two aces for the Jays. Creighton finished with 54 kills, six aces, 71 digs and five blocks on .355 hitting.
Evansville was paced by 10 kills from Emily Wandersee, while April Lubrecht topped the team with 14 digs. UE had 33 kills, three aces, 54 digs and seven blocks.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 24-11 all-time against Evansville, including a 14-3 mark in Omaha ... Creighton has won 18 of the past 19 meetings ... Creighton has won 10 straight home matches vs. Evansville, its longest home win streak over the same team in program history ... Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is now 15-1 all-time against Evansville and coach Mike Swan ... The team to win the first set has won 14 straight meetings between CU and UE ... Evansville is now 16-1 when winning the first set and 0-12 when falling in the first set ...Julianne Mandolfo had her streak of aces snapped at 11 straight matches, tying her for the second-longest streak in school history ... Megan Bober went over the 1,000 assist mark on the season, and now owns 1,014 this fall ... Creighton tied a school record with its seventh straight home win ... Allie Oelke now owns 66 career matches with 10 or more digs, second-most in school history and just eight shy of Janeen Piller's mark.
