DePaul Claims Chicago Cup in Sweep Over UIC

Saturday, September 19

Chicago, Ill.

5 p.m.

DePaul University

8-3,0-0Big East

UIC

4-8,0-0MVC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UIC	19	23	26	0
DePaul	25	25	28	3

Box Score (PDF)

9/19/2026 8:07:00 PM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Blue Demons close eight-match homestand with pair of wins

CHICAGO – DePaul volleyball trailed 24-21 in the third set before outscoring UIC 7-2 down the stretch, fending off four set-points to close out a 3-0 sweep of crosstown rival UIC on Saturday at McGrath-Phillips Arena. The sweep closes out DePaul's eight-match homestand and moves the Blue Demons to 8-3 on the season, while UIC falls to 4-8.

"Tremendous fight today against a very dangerous UIC squad," said head coach Marie Zidek. "Our game changers once again came off the bench and elevated our performance. Eva Hurrle and Abby Cahill, our libero reserves, served the final point in two of those sets. It shows that some players carry performance, but a true team is one that can count on a role player for a game-changing point. We have to have depth if we want to truly be on this championship-chasing path. Leaving the nonconference, we were aiming for 8-3 as a high-quality outcome, knowing that 7-4 would still have achieved our goal of a .600 win percentage in this part of our schedule. I have to say, 8-3, and the way in which we had to achieve it, feels far greater than settling for 7-4."

Kendall Timme led the attack with 10 kills, while Jade Dudley-Epps hit .556 on seven kills in just nine swings. Leonor Polezzi ran the offense with 25 assists and reeled off three-straight service aces in the third set, part of eight aces over her last two matches. Isabela Tavares Salomon added eight kills, and Martina Diana chipped in five kills and eight digs. As a team, DePaul hit .264 to UIC's .245.

"The Big East leads all 31 leagues with at least 31 Power-Four opponents," said Zidek. "Our league holds the #1 strength of schedule by far. It's great to move the floor up on what our nonconference schedule can look like from here on out. No more gimmes. It was so important that we won the Chicago Cup this weekend, in front of 800 Chicago kids last night versus Loyola and over 100 members of the Lincoln Park Neighbors group today. These are the crowds that are the engine that drives the program to new heights. My players signed autographs for 30 minutes tonight, and a lot of these kids can walk to this gym. We felt the crowd at an incredible level this weekend."

How it Happened
SET ONE | UIC bolted to an early 4-3 lead, but DePaul tied it and the two teams battled through a tight middle stretch, trading points to 13-13. From there, the Blue Demons took over, ripping off a 12-6 run to close the set, with Diana, Dudley-Epps, Tavares Salomon and Timme all factoring in during the surge, to win it 25-19.

SET TWO | DePaul built control late, pushing ahead 21-18 and 23-20, but UIC clawed all the way back to tie it at 23-23. A UIC hitting error handed DePaul set point, and Caroline Wright's kill closed it out, 25-23.

SET THREE | DePaul opened with a burst, as Dudley-Epps' ace and kills from Wright and Timme built a 4-2 edge, and three-straight Polezzi service aces stretched it to 7-2 and forced a UIC timeout. UIC battled back to lead 24-21, holding set point there, then again at 24-22 and 24-23 as DePaul chipped away. The Blue Demons tied it at 24-24, but UIC regained set point at 25-24. Tavares Salomon answered with a kill to tie it right back at 25-25, and the Blue Demons didn't relinquish the lead again, closing it out on Abby Cahill's service ace for a 28-26 win and the sweep.

"Next week will be our most important yet, as we need to practice far better now that school has been layered in, but we are going to enjoy tonight celebrating a tremendous preseason of program firsts, sellouts, nationally televised matches, and the DePaul Blue Demons winning two preseason tournaments, including the Drake Invite and this Chicago Cup," said Zidek.

"The players are going through the crucible every match. We have battled through injuries and personnel changes, and now we learn how to develop mental fortitude with academics layered in. It's been super hard, has challenged us to new levels of transformation, and has been super fun to hold all of these moments. But you put yourself in the arena to go through the crucible of learning what it takes to win. And winning is fun, right?"

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TICKET INFORMATION
Season ticket memberships are now live for the 2026 DePaul Volleyball season! Season ticket memberships include access to all 15 anticipated regular season matches at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Lincoln Park, plus an opportunity to purchase tickets for the Wintrust Arena match against Nebraska. Season tickets are available beginning at $79 for general admission and $129 for courtside seating! Want to bring your team to the match? Group ticket deposits are also available for parties of 10 or more. Visit DePaulBlueDemons.com/Tickets to reserve your seats today!