The UConn women’s volleyball team wrapped up their second consecutive road trip where they faced a pair of midwestern conference foes: Xavier and No. 13 Creighton. They split the weekend, defeating the Musketeers and falling to the Bluejays.
They started their weekend off strong with a 3-1 win against Xavier, this was their 8th straight win in conference play. This was a full team effort as four Huskies put double digit kills on the board: Caylee Parker (18), Allie Garland (15), Emma Werkmeister (13) and Kennadie Jake-Turner (11). Another notable player was Maddie Whitmire, who finished with 53 assists.
From the first serve, this matchup was a constant battle between both teams. They continued to trade points which prevented either team from going on long rallies. UConn and Xavier each used timeouts in the first sets to regroup. Xavier called one when they were trailing 13-10 and UConn called another when it was trailing 15-14. Ultimately, the Huskies took the first set from the Musketeers with a final score of 25-18. Parker and Garland finished the set with five kills each.
UConn showed its dominance in the second set, jumping to a 9-4 lead over Xavier. The Musketeers then bounced back, cutting the Huskies lead to just one. After UConn regained the lead 17-12, it forced a Xavier timeout. Connecticut ran away with the set, winning 25-20, extending its game lead to 2-0.
Looking to avoid the sweep, Xavier hoped to take this third set from UConn. The Musketeers established a 14-10 lead which forced UConn to take a timeout. Although the Huskies cut the lead to one, Xavier still came out of the third set with a 25-21 win. UConn still led the match 2-1.
This game was forced to go to a fourth set. UConn asserted its dominance by getting a quick 4-1 lead over Xavier. The Musketeers did attempt to fight back and climbed close to the Huskies but fell short. Xavier called a timeout once UConn had a 18-13 lead. Despite the timeout, UConn did not look back and sealed the set win 25-18. Connecticut defeated Xavier 3-1.
Although the Huskies dropped a set to Xavier, they still remained at the top of their game led by seniors Parker and Garland who were offensive machines.
The Huskies had a day off so they could travel to Omaha, Nebraska to face Creighton.
This Creighton team is known to be dominant as they came into this game with a 22-3 overall record and were undefeated in the Big-East.
The first set of this game started at a very even pace from both teams. UConn went on a 3-0 stretch, bringing them to be only down by one point, 24-23. Creighton’s Ava Martin closed out the set 25-23 with one of the five kills she recorded. UConn trailed Creighton 1-0.
The next set began with Creighton starting to overpower UConn. Garland and Jake-Turner combined for 12 kills in the set, but that wasn’t enough. The Blue Jays had eight kills in the second set against the Huskies which led them to taking the second set 25-15. At the end of the first two sets Creighton’s Nora Sis had 11 kills. The Blue Jays extended their game lead to 2-0.
The third set was looking positive for the Huskies as they started with a 3-0 run. Towards the end UConn took a 21-18 lead but Creighton fought back to score seven straight points, not giving the Huskies a chance. Garland finished with 10 kills as Creighton swept UConn 3-0.
The Huskies will return home next weekend which will be their last series of games at Gampel Pavilion. UConn will host DePaul on Saturday Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. and Marquette on Sunday Nov. 13 also at 1 p.m.
