Volleyball Suffers Four-Set Loss to East Carolina

Saturday, September 20

University Park, Pa.

1:00 PM

DePaul University

East Carolina

Jasmine King set a career-high with seven kills in DePaul's finale of the Penn State Alumni Classic on Saturday.

Volleyball Suffers Four-Set Loss to East Carolina

9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Sept. 20, 2014

Box Score: East Carolina 3, DePaul 1

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The DePaul volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23) to East Carolina on Saturday afternoon to conclude the weekend at the Penn State Alumni Classic. The Blue Demons dropped to 2-10, while the Pirates improved their record to 6-1.

Freshman Jasmine King played the lead role in DePaul's attack with a career-high seven kills. The first-year player hit at an impressive .500 clip (7-2-10) to pace the Blue Demons.

Fellow freshman Kelsey Horvath came close to her first career double-double, dishing out nine assists and adding eight digs in the four-set defeat.

Sophomore JaQuayla Baker matched King's kill total and boasted a .385 attacking percentage (7-2-13).

As a team, DePaul committed a season-high 30 attacking errors en route to its 10 defeat of the season. The Blue Demons had trouble finding open space as East Carolina posted 56 digs, with three players reaching double figures.

Sydney Darden and Ashley McRae spearheaded the Pirate attack totaling 16 and 15 kills, respectively. Darden also tallied 16 digs, giving the outside hitter her first double-double of the tournament.

East Carolina began the game on a 8-1 run. Two kills from Baker sparked a 12-5 run for the Blue Demons and dropped the Pirates lead to five at the 19-14 mark. Both teams closed out the set going point-for-point with East Carolina taking the set, 25-20.

DePaul responded to open the second stanza with an 11-6 run. Haley Bueser notched a pair of services aces and forced a Pirate timeout. Since that timeout, East Carolina brought the set to an even score at 19-19. The Blue Demons used a pair of kills from Saige Gallop to surge to a 25-23 victory, evening the match at one set each.

East Carolina came out of the intermission with a vengeance, opening the third frame with a 7-1 run. The Blue Demons got the set within two at the 7-5 mark following back-to-back attacking errors from the Pirates. However, since that point, the Pirates maintained an eight-point cushion to close out the set, 25-17.

The fourth set saw a back-and-forth battle for the first 12 points as both teams were tied, 6-6. East Carolina then used a 4-0 spurt highlighted by three DePaul attacking errors to go up by four, 10-6. The Blue Demons tied the match at 12-12 following a service ace from Colleen Smith. The Pirates then went on to gain a six-point lead at 24-18. DePaul then fought off five straight match points on the service of Smith, but ultimately fell in the fourth frame,
25-23.

The Blue Demons open up BIG EAST play when they travel to Queens, N.Y. for a matchup with St. John's on Saturday, Sept. 26. DePaul then travels to Providence, R.I. the following day to take on the Friars on the BIG EAST's opening weekend.

Notes: This was the seventh between the two programsÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ despite East Carolina's victory, DePaul still leads the overall series, 5-2Ã¢â‚¬Â¦ DePaul's attacking percentage of .101 (44-30-139) was its second-lowest mark of the seasonÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Saige Gallop reached the eight-kill plateau for the 12th time this seasonÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Kelsey Horvath matched a career-high with eight digsÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ JaQuayla Baker's .385 attacking percentage (7-2-13) was her highest total of the seasonÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Jasmine King set a career-high with 10 total attacksÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Haley Bueser dished out a career-best three assists.