Blue Demons Down Northern Iowa on Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, March 7

Cedar Falls, Iowa

2:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

4-5,3-5Big East

Northern Iowa

6-8,6-4MVC

DePaul

UNI

Blue Demons Down Northern Iowa on Sunday Afternoon

3/7/2021 7:06:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Pressly notches 18 kills and 16 digs to lead DePaul

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – DePaul ended the weekend on a high note with a 3-1 (32-30, 24-26, 25-20, 25-19) victory over Northern Iowa at the McLeod Center on Sunday afternoon.

Jill Pressly led the way for the Blue Demons with 18 kills on .394 hitting to go along with a career-high16 kills and three service aces. Emma Price powered the DePaul attack with 12 kills at a .360 clip.

Donna Brown remained a force at the net with a career-high seven blocks including four solo rejections. Brown matched her career-high with three service aces. Rachel Krasowski recorded a match-high 18 digs in the back row.

Molly Murrihy and Phoenix Lee quarterbacked the Blue Demons offense with 23 and 22 assists, respectively.

"Very impressive win today over a strong UNI squad. Our players did a nice job fighting through fatigue as UNI is too good to not make you earn it. We knew going in this would be an ambitious 3 match swing, and I couldn't be more proud of how this team represented DePaul this weekend" remarked Marie Zidek.

"While its 1-2 in the win-loss column, the way we played Creighton on Friday and responded today were massive growth moments for this squad."

"When you can go into Creighton and hit the second highest kill percentage in a set (0.538) against them, push them to five, come out flat day 2, then respond against a UNI squad who is a yearly NCAA Tournament team, some great things are happening on the backs of some very hard-working players."

"Couldn't be more proud of them and their response as a unit today."

In a marathon first set, DePaul (4-5, 3-5 BIG EAST) showed resiliency through 17 ties and six lead changes. The Blue Demons led 20-18 before the Panthers won three of the next four points to knot the score at 21. UNI took a 23-22 before two consecutive errors gave the DePaul a 25-24 lead. Multiple exchanges ensued, before a Pressly kill followed by a Brown service ace clinched the set for DePaul, 30-32.

Northern Iowa took the second set, 26-24. The two sides traded points and were within arm's distance of each other until the Panthers took a 23-18 lead. The Blue Demons earned three consecutive points to cut it to 23-21 before staving off two set Panther set points. A successful UNI kill paired with a block on the right side evened the match at 1-1.

DePaul responded in the third frame and raced to a 6-2 lead early in set. While the Panthers evened the score at 12-12, the Blue Demons showed resolve and regained a three-point lead at 17-14 behind an Avarie Evans-Allen solo block. Hanna Karl provided the offensive spark with back-to-back kills to give the Blue Demons a 21-17 lead. Brown tallied three kills in the last five points to give DePaul the 25-20 win and pull ahead in the match, 2-1.

The fourth set saw DePaul jump out to an early 8-3 lead and force an early Panther timeout. UNI cut the lead to just one at 11-10 after a Brown attack error. The Panthers surged ahead to take a 17-15 lead before the Blue Demons scored five straight to retake the lead. Consecutive service aces from Lee combined with two UNI attack errors gave DePaul the set and the match.

DePaul continues its non-conference slate March 12-13 when Iowa State visits McGrath-Phillips Arena for a pair of matches. First serve on Friday is set for 2 p.m.