Blue Demons Drop Season Opener to SFA, 3-1

Friday, August 26

Dallas, Texas

10:00 A.M. CT

DePaul University

Stephen F. Austin

8/26/2022 12:58:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Box Score

Karl and Pressly combine for 38 kills in the setback

DALLAS – DePaul volleyball dropped its season-opening match to Stephen F. Austin, 3-1, on Friday afternoon at the SMU DoubleTree Invitational in Dallas, Texas. The Blue Demons came up just short In a highly contested match that saw three of four sets require extra points and all four sets won by only two points.

Set scores of the match were: 25-27, 24-26, 25-23, 29-31

Hanna Karl and Jill Pressly paced the Blue Demons offensive attack with each outside hitter posting a double double. Karl recorded a career-high 21 kills and hit a blistering .395 while picking up 15 digs. Pressly totaled 17 kills and 18 digs.

Freshman Taylor Underwood put down six kills to go with seven digs and three blocks while sophomore middle blocker Aly Kindelberger had a monster day at the net with seven blocks and seven kills.

Libero Rachel Kraswoski picked up right where she left off from a season ago, collecting a team-high 26 digs as well as dishing out six assists.

Stephen F. Austin was led by a balanced attack with four Ladyjacks tallying at least 12 kills led by Ariana Pagan and Ielan Bradley.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Set One: The Ladyjacks jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Bailey Nelson and Aly Kindelberger combined for a block to even the score at 3. SFA widened the lead to 12-8 before a Hanna Karl kill brought DePaul back within three. Maggie Jones tallied a service ace to bring the Blue Demons within one at 14-13. Karl's third kill of the set knotted the score at 16. Pressly's fourth kill of the set gave DePaul their first lead of the day at 21-20 before a 3-0 SFA lead put the Ladyjacks back in front. A Nelson kill and SFA error tied the score at 23. The Blue Demons fended off a set point with a Pressly termination and set up a set point of their own with Karl's fifth kill of the first stanza. A pair of SFA kills and a Taylor Underwood attack error gave the Ladyjacks the first set, 27-25.

Set Two: SFA took an early 5-1 advantage and forced a Blue Demons timeout. The Ladyjacks led by as many has five points, before a Karl kill tied the match at 10. A Kindelberger and Underwood block on the outside put the Blue Demons in front 11-10. The teams went back and forth trading side-outs, a Karl kill and Ladyjacks attack error tied the score at 19. An Underwood ace put DePaul on top before SFA responded with a pair of points of their own to reclaim the lead. Back-to-back Pressly kills evened the match at 23 and the Blue Demons fended off a set point once again but it wasn't enough as a pair of Ladyjack kills clinched the second set, 26-24.

Set Three: The Blue Demons came out charged up in the third set, taking a 7-2 advantage after Karl's 10th kill of the match. The Ladyjacks cut the lead to three 13-10, before a Kindelberger and Underwood block pushed the DePaul advantage to 16-11. Maggie Jones' setter dump handed DePaul their 20th point of the set, before SFA strung together a five-point run and tie the match at 21. A Karl kill paired with an SFA block error gave DePaul the 25-23 win and extended the match to the fourth set.

Set Four: The fourth set was evenly matched as the score stood at 10-10 through the first 20 points. Underwood's fifth kill on the afternoon followed by an SFA error and Underwood ace put the Blue Demons up 13-11. A trio of Blue Demon errors gave SFA a 16-15 advantage. DePaul pushed its lead to 19-17 on kills from Karl and Pressly and a Oxley and Underwood block. Back-to-back Karl kills put the Blue Demons in front 21-20. The Blue Demons could not capitalize on four set points but would go on to stave off a pair SFA match points before the Ladyjacks took the fourth set 31-29 and the match 3-1.

FROM HEAD COACH MARIE ZIDEK: "Really proud of the fight in this group. We had tremendous efforts on defense. Our offense was a little one dimensional, but we still put ourselves in position to win against an SFA team that played with tremendous rhythm. I think that match is going to serve us really well long term in the level that it will allow us to continue reaching for on our side of the net."

UP NEXT: DePaul is back in action on Friday night at the SMU DoubleTree Invitational. The Blue Demons will face the host Mustangs at 7 p.m. from Moody Coliseum. Streaming can be found on ESPN+.