Blue Demons Hit the Road for Falcon Invitational

Friday, September 2

Bowling Green, Ohio

10:00 A.M. CT

DePaul University

#22 Western Kentucky

Blue Demons Hit the Road for Falcon Invitational

9/1/2022 7:59:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Watch (WKU) Watch (NKU) Watch (Bowling Green)Live Stats (All Matches)

DePaul to meet No. 22 Western Kentucky, Northern Kentucky and Bowling Green in two-day invite

CHICAGO – DePaul volleyball will hit the road to Bowling Green, Ohio for the second weekend of the 2022 season for three matches at the Falcon Invitational presented by Hampton Inn, Sept. 2-3. The Blue Demons are set to meet No. 22 Western Kentucky on Friday at 10 a.m. CT before facing Northern Kentucky at 4 p.m. The weekend finale against Bowling Green is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday from the Stroh Center.

DePaul's neutral site matches will be streamed on YouTube while the Blue Demons' match versus the Falcons will stream on ESPN3.

LAST TIME OUT
The Blue Demons went 0-3 at the SMU DoubleTree Invitational to start off the 2022 campaign. DePaul dropped a four-set match to Stephen F. Austin in the opener before narrowly falling to SMU in five sets and eventually losing to UC Irvine 3-0. Despite the winless first weekend, the Blue Demons saw a solid defensive effort with 16.08 digs per set and 2.00 blocks per set. Outside hitters Jill Pressly and Hanna Karl shined for the Blue Demons with 3.67 and 3.25 kills per set respectively while middle blocker Aly Kindelberger totaled 16 blocks (1.45 per set) to command the net. Libero Rachel Krasowski collected 49 digs in the 12 sets played.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
No. 22 Western Kentucky comes into the Falcon Invitational 3-1 with their lone loss coming to No. 3 Louisville in three sets on Wednesday night. The Hilltoppers swept through the competition at the Bradley Invitational on opening weekend with wins over Miami, Bradley and UMKC. Through four matches, All American middle blocker Lauren Matthews paces WKU with 3.33 kills per set at a .384 clip. The Hilltoppers are the preseason favorites in Conference USA and went 28-2 a season ago and fell in the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Travis Hudson is 692-217 in his 28 seasons leading Western Kentucky.

Northern Kentucky is 0-3 after weekend one of competition. The Norse opened the season with a 3-0 setback against then-No. 4 Louisville at the Coyote Invitational before dropping a five-set match against Mizzou. NKU wrapped up their weekend with a three-set defeat at the hands of the host Coyotes. The balanced attack is led by outside hitters Reilly Briggs and Anna Brinkmann totaling 29 and 27 kills, respectively. Liz Hart is in her 13th season leading the Norse.

Bowling Green enters the weekend 1-2 after a tough opening weekend against solid competition at the Tennessee Classic in Knoxville. The Falcons picked up a 3-1 win over the host Lady Vols after dropping to No. 13 Purdue 3-0 and Loyola Chicago 3-1. Senior Katelynn Meyer leads the attack for the Falcons with 41 kills on opening weekend at a .255 clip. Libero Yelianiz Torres paces the back line with a total of 52 digs in the first three matches of the season. Danijela Tomic is in her 11th season at the helm of the Falcons program and is 329-189 as a head coach.

SERIES STUFF
DePaul's matchup with host Bowling Green is just the third between the two programs. The two sides split the previous meetings with the Falcons winning the last meeting in 2017 3-0. Friday's matchup with national-ranked Western Kentucky will be the fifth all-time meeting and the first since 2009. The Hilltoppers hold the overall series 3-1. DePaul and Northern Kentucky have never met in the history of the program

FROM HEAD COACH MARIE ZIDEK
This weekend is another incredible learning opportunity for our young group. They battled well in training, looking to avenge last weekend's tightly contested matches and we are excited for another opportunity against a ranked opponent in WKU and two strong opponents in Northern Kentucky and Bowling Green.

UP NEXT
Following the action in Ohio, the Blue Demons return to Chicago to open the home portion of the 2022 slate with the DePaul Invitational, Sept. 9-10. McGrath-Phillips Arena will play host to six games over two days with DePaul welcoming Eastern Michigan, Saint Louis and Virginia Tech.