Blue Demons Drop Xavier

Wednesday, October 10

McGrath-Phillips Arena

6:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

5-13 (3-4BIG EAST)

Xavier

5-14 (3-5BIG EAST)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Xavier	23	21	25	20	1
DePaul	25	25	17	25	3

10/10/2018 7:56:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Box Score Box Score

DePaul takes 3-1 decision Wednesday night

CHICAGO – The DePaul volleyball team continued its recent strong play as the Blue Demons won for the third time in four matches with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20) win over visiting Xavier. The win concluded a five-match home stand that saw DePaul posted a 3-2 record in BIG EAST play.

"Great team performance tonight," said head coach Marie Zidek. "A true team is able to win despite a couple of skills or players not having their best night. We learned to win ugly tonight, and that was the most important victory of all in addition to jumping a couple of spots in conference standings with that win."

DePaul went up 6-2 in the first set with a balanced attack that featured kills from Donna Brown, Avarie Evans-Allen, Mattie Norris and Emma Price. Following a Xavier miscue, the Blue Demons took a 10-4 advantage forcing a Musketeer time out.

Xavier closed to within two at 11-9 before the Blue Demons scored six of the next eight points to take a 17-11 advantage on a kill by Brown.

DePaul looked to close out the opening frame by taking a 24-18 lead only to see Xavier come back before a final strike by Evans-Allen to secure the 25-23 game one victory.

The second set started even as each side put together a flurry of points to find the score knotted at 6-6.

The Blue Demons reeled off four straight points to take an 11-8 lead forcing a Xavier time out. The run continued after the interruption with two more DePaul points to give the home team a 13-8 advantage.

DePaul maintained a four-point advantage multiple times in the second set but allowed Xavier to pull within one at 19-18. A Xavier service error followed by kills from Brown and Price gave the Blue Demons a 22-18 lead before the second set finished with a score of 25-21.

Xavier started the third set by scoring eight of the first nine points and DePaul would only get as close as five at 20-15. The Musketeers stayed in the match by taking the third set with a score of 25-17 to force a fourth set.

The final frame started with each team scoring a point before DePaul went on a run that saw them build a 10-3 advantage. Xavier came back with two points before Norris ended the brief Musketeer run with a cross-court kill off a long rally.

DePaul continued the pressure as Isabelle Banez tallied an ace to make the score 18-12. Kate Dolan set up Evans-Allen for a kill to increase the lead to 22-14 before Brown closed the match with a kill and a final of 25-20.
Price led the way with 19 kills while Evans-Allen finished with 14 and Brown had 10. Banez totaled 21 digs in the match while Dolan had 22 assists and Natalie Hayward finished with 20 assists and seven digs.

DePaul doesn't return to McGrath-Phillips Arena until Oct. 26 after playing the next three matches on the road. The road trip starts this weekend with a trip to Seton Hall on Oc. 12 and St. John's on Oct. 14 before an Oct. 19 match at Marquette.