DePaul Captures First 2018 BIG EAST Win Against Georgetown

Saturday, September 29

McGrath-Phillips Arena

6:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

3-12 (1-3Big East)

Georgetown

10-7 (3-1Big East)

Georgetown

DePaul

DePaul Captures First 2018 BIG EAST Win Against Georgetown

9/29/2018 8:47:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Box Score

The Blue Demons dropped the first set, but powered through the final three to take their first BIG EAST win of the season against Georgetown.

CHICAGO - The Blue Demons played with grit and did not take no as an answer after coming back from a loss in the first set and going on to defeat the Hoyas and take their first BIG EAST match of the 2018 season 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-20.) DePaul's record has improved to 3-12 (1-3 BIG EAST).

"The team played so well as a unit tonight," said head coach Marie Zidek. "We have been working on our new offensive and defensive systems since I got here last January. They require players to have confidence and to move assertively around each other. They also require players to make decisions during the rally on what and who they are paying attention to. Finally, we were able to have a night where everything and everyone gave a top performance within their role. We know we need to dig to transition in order to put ourselves in position to win matches, and the team did just that tonight.

"We had four players, including Katie Dolan, with double-digit digs and that just shows off all of their hard work. Georgetown has two of the top players in the conference and we were able to match them kill for kill while neutralizing everybody else. Great win for the team tonight and really a testament to their gift."

In the winning match against Georgetown, four different DePaul sources put up double-digit digs. Mattie Norris put up 17, Claire Anderson put up 16, MacKenzie Savage put up 22 and Katie Dolan put up 16. Claire Anderson recorded her second double-double of the season, totaling 12 kills along with her digs.

In the first set, the Hoyas jumped out to a 3-1 run before back-to-back Avarie Evans-Allen kills tied it at 3's. With the score knotting six more times, the last being at 10-10, a 3-0 Georgetown run separated by a DePaul point from a 4-0 Georgetown run put the Hoyas up 17-12. With kills from four more DePaul sources in the first stanza, two from Claire Anderson and one-a-piece from Evans-Allen, Emma Price and Maddie Torti, the Blue Demons were held off at 19 and went on to drop the first set by a difference of 25-19.

The second start began with a Hoya service ace that was quickly responded to with a huge kill from Torti to even the score 1-1. With a handful of Hoya errors and kills from Isabell De La Rosa and Evans-Allen, the Blue Demons would reach an advantage of 7-5. Georgetown reached within one at 8-7, but a Donna Brown kill sparked the momentum that would push the Blue Demons into a comfortable lead. A 3-0 Blue Demon run featuring an Emma Price kill lifted the Blue Demons even further ahead 13-8. Later in the stanza, Georgetown snuck up and got within two, however, a 3-0 run featuring another Price kill put DePaul up 21-16. With the remainder of the set remaining close, the Blue Demons did not take no as an answer, as a thunderous kill from De La Rosa gave the Blue Demons their first set, 25-22.

In the third set, the first point went to the Hoyas on the kill, however a handful of GU attack errors, a MacKenzie Savage service ace, Evans-Allen kill and a service ace from Mattie Norris would put the Blue Demons into the lead that would last throughout the remainder of the stanza. With the lead remaining narrow, the Blue Demons scored 7 of the next ten points to bring it to 12-8. Later on, a De La Rosa kill and a Torti kill would threaten, forcing a GU timeout. Straight out of the timeout, Torti pounced on the ball for another kill to lift DePaul's lead to 19-11. Holding the Hoyas at just 15, the DePaul momentum continued and a bad set from Georgetown would give DePaul their second set, 25-15.

In the fourth and final set, DePaul jumped out to the first lead on a Price kill. With the score intertwining, the set saw seven knots in the score, before DePaul was able to escape from the bind at 15's on a De La Rosa kill. Not long after, an Anderson kill lifted the Blue Demons up from a single-point difference to make it 20-18. The Hoyas would score two more and DePaul's last five points would come from two GU errors and kills from Donna Brown and Torti to result in DePaul's first 2018 BIG EAST win.