Women's Volleyball: Marquette 3, DePaul 0

Three weeks ago, Marquette went down to Chicago and went through a knock-down, drag-out fight for a five set win against DePaul. The Golden Eagles got at least 25 points in all four of the full point sets, but still dropped two of them to the Blue Demons.

Last night, Marquette jumped out to 6-0 and 5-1 starts in the first two sets en route to two easy wins before the other DePaul came back from intermission and turned the third set into a brawl. Marquette was able to create leads of 9-7, 10-8, and 11-9, but never was able to get that third point. DePaul took a few early leads, but it was usually Marquette taking an advantage and DePaul wiping it out. But then, at 19-all: a kill from Nele Barber, a block from Jackie Kocken and Teal Schnurr, a kill from Autumn Bailey, a block from Bailey and Schnurr, and another kill from Bailey. 24-19 Marquette and a chance at match point. DePaul's Abbie Fleener sent an attack long and out of bounds and would the last one out please turn off the lights?

The key to Marquette's quick win? A bad offensive night by DePaul's top attackers. Fleener hit just .105 with five errors on 19 attacks, while Vesela Zapryanova, DePaul's leader in kills per set, hit -.050 on the night. Yes, a negative hitting percentage for one of the four best attackers in the Big East as she committed five errors against four kills on 20 attacks.

Marquette (12-5, 4-1 Big East) was led on the night by 14 kills from Bailey, with 12 coming from Barber as well. Both players had career highs in the previous match against the Blue Demons, so it's not surprising to see them perform well again. It *was* surprising to see freshman Teal Schnurr in the starting lineup, though. Schnurr made her collegiate debut last night, starting in place of Lindsey Gosh, and finished with five kills and four blocks.

Gosh never made it off the bench in this contest, which only reminds you that she missed the match against USC after tweaking her knee. She played the next day in that instance, but it would seem that she still might not be 100%.

Marquette's leaders in assists and digs were exactly who you'd predict ahead of time. Julie Jeziorowski had 14 digs on the back line, while Elizabeth Koberstein outdid her average with 36 assists. Koberstein also hit .889 for the match, recording a career high eight kills. It's usually a rare treat to see the #BiskyKill make multiple appearances in a match, so it was a blast to see Koberstein record kill after kill with her quick dump over the middle of the net.

Up Next: Marquette looks to get revenge for their first loss of the conference season when Creighton comes to the McGuire Center on Friday night in the first match of a string of three matches in three days. In addition to seeing MU take on their biggest rival for the conference title, the men's basketball team will have their traditional Haunted Hoops scrimmage following the game.