#20 Volleyball Drops In-State Battle

Wednesday, September 16

Lincoln, NE

6:00 PM

Creighton University

5-5,0-0Big East

Nebraska

8-0,0-0Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Creighton	13	15	19	0
Nebraska	25	25	25	3

NOTES STATS PHOTOS

Photo by: Diego Vasconcelos

9/16/2026 7:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score PHOTOS STATS Photo Gallery

By: Rob Anderson

LINCOLN, Neb. -- No. 1 Nebraska swept No. 20 Creighton Volleyball on Wednesday night in front of 15,405 fans and a national television audience on BTN. Scores in favor of the host Cornhuskers first sweep in Lincoln over CU since 2011 were 25-13, 25-15, 25-19.

For the second straight season, Creighton fell to 5-5 after the loss to top-ranked Nebraska (8-0). Last year's Bluejay squad bounced back, winning its next 23 matches en route to a return to the Elite Eight.

Nebraska never trailed while winning the opening set 25-13. The Cornhuskers hit .444 in the first frame with 15 kills, limiting the Bluejay offense to -.065 hitting and six kills. Omaha native Ashlyn Paymal topped Creighton with three kills in the first set of her first career appearance against NU.

CU shook off the opening set loss to take an early 4-2 lead in the second game and the teams played through nine ties and four lead changes before Nebraska broke free from a 12-12 deadlock with a 5-0 run and closed out the 25-15 victory on a tip from Harper Murray. Creighton had 10 digs and five kills in the second frame, while Nebraska had 10 kills and four aces to pull away.

Junior Ayden Ames put on a blocking clinic early in the third set with three blocks to help stake the Jays to a 6-5 advantage, but NU broke free from an 8-8 tie thanks to a 5-1 run and ended up winning its 24th set in 25 tries this fall.

Paymal led Creighton with five kills, Katie Dalton dished 10 assists and Sydney Breissinger owned seven digs to pace CU. The Bluejays hit -.033 and had 17 kills, 21 digs, nine blocks and an ace.

Nebraska was paced by nine kills and six blocks from Andi Jackson in addition to 33 assists and 11 digs from Bergen Reilly. The Cornhuskers recorded 41 kills, 47 digs, nine blocks and five aces on .202 hitting.

Creighton is back in action on Friday at 7 p.m. when it hosts unbeaten Kansas State (6-0). The contest will be televised on ESPN2.

NOTES: Either Creighton (2021, 2024) or Nebraska (2022, 2023, 2025) has led the nation in opponent's hitting percentage each of the previous five seasons ... Creighton extended its streak of matches with a block to 983 consecutive contests since restarting the program in 1994 ... Four of the previous seven meetings between Creighton and Nebraska had gone five sets ... The crowd of 15,405 was the seventh-largest indoor regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA history. Creighton has played in three of those ... The crowd of 15,405 was the largest true road crowd that Creighton has ever played in front of, surpassing the 8,924 fans at Bob Devaney Sports Center against Nebraska in 2023 ... Nebraska (159) and Creighton (152) rank second and fourth in the country in victories since the start of the fall 2021 season ... Creighton fell to 0-8 all-time against top-ranked opponents, with all of those match-ups coming against Nebraska ... This is the first time Creighton has lost three straight matches in the same season since 2016. That 2016 squad ended up reaching the Elite Eight ... Nebraska's previous season-low hitting percentage had been .267 before hitting .202 today ... Eloise Brandewie became CU's first player with five or more blocks in five straight matches since Lauren Smith in 2015.