Well-Balanced Attack Leads DePaul Past Villanova

Saturday, September 25

Villanova, Pa.

6:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

9-5,2-0Big East

Villanova

8-6,0-2Big East

DePaul

Villanova

Well-Balanced Attack Leads DePaul Past Villanova

9/25/2021 8:33:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Blue Demons win at Villanova for first time since 2012

VILLANOVA, Pa. – For the first time since 2012, the DePaul women's volleyball team picked up a win at Villanova with a 3-0 sweep of the Wildcats on Saturday evening inside Jake Nevin Field House.

DePaul has won its last five matches and improves to 9-5 on the season and 2-0 in BIG EAST play. Since joining the conference in 2005, the Blue Demons have never started league play with two consecutive victories.
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Set scores of the match were 25-17, 25-20, 25-22

Four Blue Demons registered six or more kills with sophomore outside Jill Pressly pouring in a team-high 12 kills at a .435 hitting percentage. Fellow outside Hanna Karl put down 10 kills on 28 swings and committed zero errors. Karl continued her hot streak from the service line with a pair of service aces.

Bailey Nelson and Emma Price chipped in eight and six kills respectively from the right side.

Molly Murrihy tallied 14 assists and two service aces while Ashley Cudiamat added 12 helpers, four digs and a service ace.

DePaul dominated play at the net, out blocking the Wildcats 8-1. Freshman Aly Kindelberger had a hand in seven of the eight blocks including three solo.

Riley Homer put down 12 kills while Kierra Booth terminated 11 balls to lead the way for the Wildcats.

How it Happened:

Set One – A 5-0 DePaul run sparked by a Karl kill and a pair of service aces put the Blue Demons up 13-6 in the first. After a Villanova timeout, the Wildcats won four of the next five points to cut the DePaul advantage to 19-14. A string of kills from Nelson, Price and Karl gave the Blue Demons the first set, 25-17.

Set Two – The Wildcats opened the second frame with an early 6-3 advantage. The Blue Demons went on to win five of the next six points to take an 8-7 lead. A pair of Villanova attack errors paired with a trio of DePaul kills allowed DePaul to create separation at 14-10. The visiting squad claimed four of the last six points of the set to secure a 25-20 victory and take a 2-0 match lead.

Set Three –. Much like the second set, the Wildcats jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. With Rachel Krasowski behind the service line, the Blue Demons embarked on a 5-0 run to pull ahead 6-5. Four Villanova errors and a Nelson kill allowed for DePaul to widen the advantage to 19-15. Three kills from Pressly and Karl on the outside combined with a Kindelberger block pushed DePaul over the top to secure a 3-0 victory.

From Head Coach Marie Zidek: We knew this was going to be a battle. Villanova plays so fired up in their own gym. They have an excellent sophomore in Riley Homer who can move it around. From point one we were dialed in with Bailey Nelson stuffing Homer on the first point of the match. That really set a tone of confidence and aggression that we never wavered from. Our defense adjusted as the match went on and we were very sharp with our second ball setting to create extra opportunities for our attackers. Our attackers did a nice job of hitting line and our setters did just enough to keep our middles involved which opened up seams for our pins when we needed to end a five-ball exchange rally. Also a couple great blocks by Kindelberger just when they were starting to push. Really good fight and resilience by this group.

Up Next: The Blue Demons will return home to welcome Connecticut and Marquette to McGrath-Phillips Arena, Oct. 2-3. Both matches can be streamed live on FloSports.

For all of the latest on DePaul Women's Volleyball, stay tuned to depaulbluedemons.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.