DePaul University
0-1
Southeast Missouri State
1-0
Blue Demons Fall in Season Opener, 3-1
8/27/2021 6:00:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
DePaul returns to the court for two matches on Saturday
PEORIA, Ill. — DePaul women's volleyball dropped their season opener to Southeast Missouri State, 3-1 ( 26-28, 25-19, 22-25, 23-25), on Friday afternoon at the CEFCU Invitational.
After falling in the first set in marathon fashion, the Blue Demons responded with resilience taking the second set handily, but couldn't close it out in sets three and four.
Sophomore Jill Pressly picked up where she left off in the spring with a team-high 18 kills to go along with 20 digs and a pair of solo blocks. Donna Brown and Emma Price bolstered the attack with 10 and nine kills, respectively.
Libero Rachel Kraswoski collected a career-high 38 digs to lead the DePaul defense while freshman Ashley Cudiamat notched a double double with 21 assists and 12 digs in her collegiate debut.
Set One: In the first frame, the Blue Demons trailed for the early stages before Pressly's second kill of the afternoon brought DePaul within one at 12-11. Behind a 3-0 run the Redhawks extended their lead to 17-14, forcing a DePaul timeout. After the break, SEMO extended their lead to 22-17 before the Blue Demons mounted a 3-0 run of their own to force a Redhawks timeout. Despite trailing 24-21 DePaul fended off three-straight set points but couldn't quite hold on to claim the set.
Set Two: Both sides traded points early in the second and were tied at eight apiece before the Blue Demons tallied five of the next six points including consecutive kills from Allison Dennemann to take a 13-9 advantage. The Redhawks tried to close the gap at 21-18, but a pair of Price kills to go along with a termination from Pressly and a SEMO service error sealed the second set for DePaul.
Set Three: The Redhawks jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the third before the Blue Demons utilized a barrage of SEMO errors and a Pressly solo block to jump back in front, 9-8. The two sides traded points back-and-forth before the Redhawks tallied consecutive kills to push their lead to three at 18-15 and force a DePaul timeout. Out of the timeout, Pressly tallied four kills across the next six points to give the Blue Demons the lead 20-19 and force a Redhawks timeout. After being tied at 21, SEMO secured four of the remaining five points to take the set.
Set Four: DePaul saw an early 6-4 lead in the fourth before committing three consecutive errors to let the Redhawks jump in front. An Aly Kindelberger and Bailey Nelson block knotted the set at 16 before Brown's ninth kill of the day gave the Blue Demons the lead. Brown evened things up again at 22 all with a run down the middle before consecutive SEMO kills gave the Redhawks match point and forced a DePaul timeout. DePaul forced an attack error to fend off one match point, before the Redhawks clinched the match on a kill from the middle.
DePaul (0-1) returns to the court on Saturday, August 28 to take on Central Michigan at 10 a.m. before facing host Bradley in the weekend finale at 7 p.m. DePaul's match against the Braves can be seen on ESPN3.
For all of the latest on DePaul Women's Volleyball, stay tuned to depaulbluedemons.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Postgame Notes
- Pressly's double-double is now the fourth of her career. The sophomore's 18 kills were one shy of matching a career of 19.
- Krasowski's career-high 38 digs is 14 more than her previous mark of 24 set on Feb. 19, 2021 in a five-set match against Xavier. The sophomore has tallied double-digit digs in all 11 starts of her career.
- All three Blue Demon freshman made their collegiate debut's Friday afternoon with Cudiamat and Aly Kindelberger making their first career start.
- The Redhawks victory on Friday was the first in the all-time series between the two programs. The Blue Demons now hold the edge, 5-1.
