DePaul University Athletics
DePaul University
1-0
Northern Illinois
0-1
Night of Firsts Finds DPU Victorious
8/24/2018 11:29:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
First match of 2018. First season win. Marie Zidek's first career win.
DEKALB, Ill. – In an exhilarating first contest of the 2018 season, the Blue Demons (1-0) were able to combat the Huskies (0-1) in a five-set match (25-22, 14-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-13) Friday evening at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Tonight's win did not just serve as the first match of the 2018 season or the first season win, but marked Marie Zidek's first career win as head coach.
"This win was huge for DePaul," said Zidek. "Hats off to a gritty and physical NIU team that pushed us the full length in five sets.
"These matches are the ones that, as a coach, you know your team needs because there are so many lessons learned beyond just X's and O's in competitive maturity and confidence.
"As my first match at the helm of DePaul volleyball, I couldn't be more proud of the effort from the team and the staff tonight. We look forward to building on this momentum."
In the compact battle between the Huskies and the Blue Demons, junior outside hitter Claire Anderson recorded her first double-double of the season with 13 kills and 16 digs. Anderson led the pack in points (16) and total blocks (2). Freshman Natalie Hayward contributed 29 assists with junior Katie Dolan coming in at a close second with 25. The sophomores wreaked havoc on the Huskies with Isabell De La Rosa garnering the highest hitting percentage of the night, hitting at .636. Avarie Evans-Allen recorded three service aces and Emma Price chipped in 13 kills.
A very neck-and-neck first set featured ten different knots in the score before a Claire Anderson kill managed to lift the Blue Demons away from a 15-15 bind. NIU continued to inch closer and the remainder of the stanza saw no more than a four point difference, but DePaul took the set by a score of 25-22 on a De La Rosa kill.
With the Huskies on an 8-1 run early in the second set, the Blue Demons struggled to dish out kills and eventually found themselves down by a difference of 5-18. Though they were able to scrape away at the deficit, they could not completely close in on NIU and dropped the set 14-25.
The third set saw more of an effort from DePaul with the difference remaining narrow up until a 9-9 knot. NIU dished out five straight points to put them up 14-9. DePaul made their way back into the competition at 17-19 after multiple NIU errors. An Emma Price kill later in the set would bring DPU within one point at 22-21 but the Huskies would go on to take the set.
NIU grabbed a 5-2 lead early in the fourth set before DPU responded with a 7-2 scoring drive capped off by an Evans-Allen service ace to take a 9-7 lead. DePaul found a 14-11 advantage before an NIU kill began a 6-0 Huskie run to lift NIU up 17-14. The Blue Demons would make their way back up to a 19-18 lead on a block by Anderson and De La Rosa. NIU would take the lead one more time before a Hayward kill sparked a three-point run to put the Blue Demons ahead 22-20. DePaul took the last three points to win the set 25-22 and bring about a fate-deciding fifth set.
The first eight points would exchange back-and-forth in the fifth set until the score got knotted at 4-4. DePaul trailed by two before scoring six of the next seven points to take the lead 10-7 on an Anderson kill. Kills from Anderson and freshman Mattie Norris instigated a 4-0 run that would lead to match point. NIU was able to reach 13 points, but a Norris kill made the Blue Demons victorious.
DePaul will finish off the Northern Illinois Invitational tomorrow with an 11 a.m. match against the Oklahoma Sooners. Live stats can be found here.
