Wednesday afternoon inside the DHS Main Gym, a packed house filled in for the annual Dig Pink game for Blue Wave Volleyball. They also welcomed arch-rival, New Canaan.

The Wave sat in first place in the conference with a commanding 13-0 record on the season and 39-0 in sets this season. The Rams sat in second place in the conference with a 10-2 record.

What started as an evenly matched first set found Darien with a 16-11 advantage going into the first timeout by the Rams. Both teams had many attacking errors in the first half, but the attack of Leilani Gillespie and Jillian Roche for Darien vs. Lily Stevens and Lindsay Mulcahy for New Canaan kept it close. This was until Ellie Moore took to the service line in a 19-14 match and sent the Wave on a scoring run making it 22-17. 22-17 the score, New Canaan’s Lily Stevens took the serve. Back-to-back swings from Stevens found Darien’s Ayla Schenck making two great digs to keep the point alive. The third time would be the charm as Schenck sent the free ball over in the middle of Rams players putting Darien up 23-17. A net violation on the Rams gave Darien a set point. 24-17, Aubrey Moore sent a serve over the net and caught New Canaan’s Olivia Zaorski with the double touch violation giving Darien the 25-17 set win.

The second set saw New Canaan jump to an early 7-6 lead before Jillian Roche picked up one of her six kills on the afternoon, sparking a Darien rally. Schenck went on a long serving run giving Darien the 14-7 lead. Gillespie, Black, and Roche were all asserting dominance at the net, and the Wave was rolling. A turning point in the set came when Darien was up 14-8. Zaorski set to the outside to Stevens, who has 200+ kills on the season, winded up and spiked the ball. Stevens connected and put as much force on the ball as she could but was met with Darien’s sophomore blocker Savannah Leone who blocked Steven’s high-velocity shot. Darien kept going grabbing a 17-10 lead, and when a questionable double touch call went against Lily Stevens, the Rams got in their heads and couldn’t get out. Darien outscored the Rams 8-1 down the stretch of the second set and won 25-11.

Darien started the third set on a tear going up 17-9 in the second set and showing why they are 13-0 this season. The Rams came out of the timeout with life cutting it all the way down to 20-15. New Canaan kept feeding Stevens and Mulcahy, who have been the main offense producers for the Rams all season, and the luck would run out late in the third set. 23-18 in the third set, Sophia Radman sailed a serve out of play setting up a match point for the Wave. Ellie Moore would get the service looking to end it. A serve off the libero Lissette Jimenez was the ace and a 25-19 win.

Darien took down the Rams three sets to none and won their 14th match on the season. Darien also extends their set winning streak to 42. 2009 and 2007 were the only Darien volleyball teams to win out and not drop a set, and the 2022 edition of Blue Wave Girls Volleyball looks to add to that history.

The Girls traveled to Ridgefield on Friday and took down the Tigers 3-0 making them 15-0, and now shift their attention to their final three matches of the season. Stamford on Monday, Wilton on Wednesday, and Fairfield Warde to close the season out on Friday.

DARIEN 3,

NEW CANAAN 0

New Canaan 17 11 19 – 0

Darien 25 25 25 – 3

Darien: Leilani Gillespie 10 kills, 2 aces, 4 points, 4 digs; Jillian Roche 6 kills, 4 aces, 4 digs, 11 points; Aubrey Moore 3 aces, 6 points, 24 assists, 7 digs; Ellie Moore  6 kills, 4 aces, 10 digs, 3 points; Savannah Leone 6 aces, 11 points.

Records: New Canaan 10-3 overall, 8-2 FCIAC; Darien 14-0 overall, 11-0 FCIAC.