DePaul University Athletics
Friday, November 12
Indianapolis, Ind.
10:00 A.M. CT
DePaul University
at
Butler
Postseason Implications in Play When DePaul Visits Butler and Xavier
11/11/2021 7:49:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Blue Demons look to sure up path to BIG EAST Tournament
CHICAGO – DePaul women's volleyball hits the road for the final time in the 2021 season with a visit to Butler and Xavier, November 12 and 14. The Blue Demons will look to sure up their postseason position with four games remaining in BIG EAST play.
DePaul sits tied for fourth place in the conference standings with Butler and will control their own destiny in claiming one of four berths to the league tournament set for Nov. 26-27 in Milwaukee.
The Blue Demons will meet the Bulldogs at 10 a.m. CT on Friday at Hinkle Fieldhouse before traveling to Cincinnati to face the Musketeers on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Friday's match can be seen on Butler Athletics YouTube while Sunday's action will be streamed on FloSports.
Demon Doings:
DePaul has won three of its last four matches and is 15-11 overall and 8-6 in BIG EAST action. The Blue Demons went 2-0 last weekend in a road swing to the East Coast, collecting wins over St. John's and Seton Hall. The triumph over the Pirates marked the eighth conference win for DePaul, its most league wins since joining the BIG EAST in 2005.
The Blue Demons have embraced a win by committee mentality in 2021 with contributions from everyone up and down the roster from starters to key reserves. As a squad, DePaul ranks third in the BIG EAST in kills with 1,286 and fourth in digs at 1,533.
Sophomore outside hitter leads the attack with 3.52 kills per set to rank fourth in the conference. Middle blocker Donna Brown has put down 205 kills on the season at a .330 clip. Emma Price provides a lethal option on the right side with 2.33 kills per set. Price surpassed 1,000 career kills in Friday's 3-1 win over the Red Storm.
Libero Rachel Krasowski provides a spark in the back row with 4.59 digs per set. Ashley Cudiamat, Phoenix Lee and Molly Murrihy have all shared setting duties in DePaul's 6-2 offense.
Scouting the Competition:
Butler – The Bulldogs enter the weekend 14-13 and 8-6 overall on the season. Butler split their last two games, picking up a sweep over Providence and falling in four sets to Creighton on the road. Libero Jaymeson Kinley leads the Bulldogs defense with 512 digs on the season to lead the conference. Senior middle blocker Melody Davidson provides a huge presence at the net for Butler, ranking in the top-five in kills, points and blocks. Sharon Clark is in her 22nd season leading the Bulldogs program.
Xavier – Xavier hits the penultimate weekend of conference play with a 11-14 record and 6-8 mark in league action. The Musketeers last picked up a win over Providence which ended a six-match losing streak. Sophomore middle blocker Delaney Hogan leads the attack for Xavier with 214 kills on .296 hitting. Freshman Emma Grace adds 2.33 kills per set on the outside. Libero Stevie Wolf anchors the back line with 3.34 digs per set. Christy Pfeffenberger is in her seventh season at the helm in Cincinnati.
Series Stuff: The Bulldogs lead the overall series between the two programs 20-11, while the Blue Demons have won the last two meetings after picking up a pair of wins in the 2020 season played in the spring of 2021. Xavier holds a 20-6 advantage in the all-time series. The two programs split a pair of meetings in the shortened 2020 season with the Blue Demons winning the second match in five sets on February 20, 2021.
Rising in the RPI: In the latest release of the NCAA RPI, a key postseason ranking metric, the Blue Demons climbed one spot to 61. The BIG EAST boasts five squads in the top 100 with Creighton and Marquette leading the way at 13 and 14, respectively. UConn sits just ahead of DePaul at 60 and St. John's checks in at 89. The Blue Demons began the season with a ranking of 109.
Pressly Named to BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll: Pressly was selected to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the third time this season after leading the Blue Demons to a pair of wins last weekend. Pressly put down 3.44 kills per set in nine frames of action while recording 3.67 points per set. The Plano, Texas native ranks fourth in the conference in kills per set with 3.54 on the season.
From Head Coach Marie Zidek: "The practice gym has had a special buzz to it the past couple of days since this group knows all roads to postseason lead first through Butler. This group has done what it set out to do – work itself into meaningful November matches in the hunt of a post season opportunity. Butler is who they usually are – a strong blocking team in conference led by Melody Davidson and solid in the defensive libero spot with Kinley. They've also added Grunze, who compliments Sheridan and Robinson well, for some extra offense and elevated their service game. We will need to bring our ball control and defense to create extra opportunities for our offense if we want to better this squad. We aren't even thinking about Xavier until after Butler's match on Friday but know that we will have to defend Carrigan and a great slide hitter in Hogan in order to grab momentum. Xavier brings excellent backcourt defense, so same things needed to play them well. This weekend is everything you want it to be as a competitor – your high-end game and gritty attitude meeting a competitor that you're aware stands in your way of something you desperately want and have to earn."
Up Next: DePaul will return home to close out the regular season Nov. 19-20 with Villanova and Georgetown at McGrath-Phillips Arena. Friday's match against the Wildcats is scheduled for 7 p.m. while Saturday's meeting with the Hoyas is set for 6 p.m. The Blue Demons will honor the program's six seniors Donna Brown, Allison Dennemann, Mireya Garcia, Molly Murrihy, Emma Price and Meredith Wallace prior to Saturday's match.
For all the latest on the DePaul women's volleyball team stay tuned to depaulbluedemons.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
DePaul sits tied for fourth place in the conference standings with Butler and will control their own destiny in claiming one of four berths to the league tournament set for Nov. 26-27 in Milwaukee.
The Blue Demons will meet the Bulldogs at 10 a.m. CT on Friday at Hinkle Fieldhouse before traveling to Cincinnati to face the Musketeers on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Friday's match can be seen on Butler Athletics YouTube while Sunday's action will be streamed on FloSports.
Demon Doings:
DePaul has won three of its last four matches and is 15-11 overall and 8-6 in BIG EAST action. The Blue Demons went 2-0 last weekend in a road swing to the East Coast, collecting wins over St. John's and Seton Hall. The triumph over the Pirates marked the eighth conference win for DePaul, its most league wins since joining the BIG EAST in 2005.
The Blue Demons have embraced a win by committee mentality in 2021 with contributions from everyone up and down the roster from starters to key reserves. As a squad, DePaul ranks third in the BIG EAST in kills with 1,286 and fourth in digs at 1,533.
Sophomore outside hitter leads the attack with 3.52 kills per set to rank fourth in the conference. Middle blocker Donna Brown has put down 205 kills on the season at a .330 clip. Emma Price provides a lethal option on the right side with 2.33 kills per set. Price surpassed 1,000 career kills in Friday's 3-1 win over the Red Storm.
Libero Rachel Krasowski provides a spark in the back row with 4.59 digs per set. Ashley Cudiamat, Phoenix Lee and Molly Murrihy have all shared setting duties in DePaul's 6-2 offense.
Scouting the Competition:
Butler – The Bulldogs enter the weekend 14-13 and 8-6 overall on the season. Butler split their last two games, picking up a sweep over Providence and falling in four sets to Creighton on the road. Libero Jaymeson Kinley leads the Bulldogs defense with 512 digs on the season to lead the conference. Senior middle blocker Melody Davidson provides a huge presence at the net for Butler, ranking in the top-five in kills, points and blocks. Sharon Clark is in her 22nd season leading the Bulldogs program.
Xavier – Xavier hits the penultimate weekend of conference play with a 11-14 record and 6-8 mark in league action. The Musketeers last picked up a win over Providence which ended a six-match losing streak. Sophomore middle blocker Delaney Hogan leads the attack for Xavier with 214 kills on .296 hitting. Freshman Emma Grace adds 2.33 kills per set on the outside. Libero Stevie Wolf anchors the back line with 3.34 digs per set. Christy Pfeffenberger is in her seventh season at the helm in Cincinnati.
Series Stuff: The Bulldogs lead the overall series between the two programs 20-11, while the Blue Demons have won the last two meetings after picking up a pair of wins in the 2020 season played in the spring of 2021. Xavier holds a 20-6 advantage in the all-time series. The two programs split a pair of meetings in the shortened 2020 season with the Blue Demons winning the second match in five sets on February 20, 2021.
Rising in the RPI: In the latest release of the NCAA RPI, a key postseason ranking metric, the Blue Demons climbed one spot to 61. The BIG EAST boasts five squads in the top 100 with Creighton and Marquette leading the way at 13 and 14, respectively. UConn sits just ahead of DePaul at 60 and St. John's checks in at 89. The Blue Demons began the season with a ranking of 109.
Pressly Named to BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll: Pressly was selected to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the third time this season after leading the Blue Demons to a pair of wins last weekend. Pressly put down 3.44 kills per set in nine frames of action while recording 3.67 points per set. The Plano, Texas native ranks fourth in the conference in kills per set with 3.54 on the season.
From Head Coach Marie Zidek: "The practice gym has had a special buzz to it the past couple of days since this group knows all roads to postseason lead first through Butler. This group has done what it set out to do – work itself into meaningful November matches in the hunt of a post season opportunity. Butler is who they usually are – a strong blocking team in conference led by Melody Davidson and solid in the defensive libero spot with Kinley. They've also added Grunze, who compliments Sheridan and Robinson well, for some extra offense and elevated their service game. We will need to bring our ball control and defense to create extra opportunities for our offense if we want to better this squad. We aren't even thinking about Xavier until after Butler's match on Friday but know that we will have to defend Carrigan and a great slide hitter in Hogan in order to grab momentum. Xavier brings excellent backcourt defense, so same things needed to play them well. This weekend is everything you want it to be as a competitor – your high-end game and gritty attitude meeting a competitor that you're aware stands in your way of something you desperately want and have to earn."
Up Next: DePaul will return home to close out the regular season Nov. 19-20 with Villanova and Georgetown at McGrath-Phillips Arena. Friday's match against the Wildcats is scheduled for 7 p.m. while Saturday's meeting with the Hoyas is set for 6 p.m. The Blue Demons will honor the program's six seniors Donna Brown, Allison Dennemann, Mireya Garcia, Molly Murrihy, Emma Price and Meredith Wallace prior to Saturday's match.
For all the latest on the DePaul women's volleyball team stay tuned to depaulbluedemons.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
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