The DePaul volleyball seniors dominated as the Blue Demons defeated Georgetown University 3-0 at McGrath-Phillips Arena on Saturday in their final game of the regular season.

The night before, the Blue Demons defeated Villanova University 3-2. The Blue Demons were down a few players while battling Covid issues, and also had a smaller lineup against Georgetown.

Before the game, the graduating players – middle blocker Donna Brown, outside hitter Ally Denneman, defensive specialist Mireya Garcia, setter Molly Murrihy, right side hitter Emma Price and outside hitter Meredith Wallace – were honored for their time at DePaul.

“It was very surreal,” Garcia, who has been with DePaul for her entire college career, said. “It’s been a very long four years, but I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. Our teammates have made everything what it is, so for me it was a great experience.”

The first set began with a point for Georgetown, but the Blue Demons bounced back and earned the second one. After that, the points went back and forth before DePaul gained control of the game with strong offense and ball control.

The Hoyas also struggled with service and attack errors, therefore handing the Blue Demons points at times.

Georgetown continued to make attack and service errors and finished with nine hitting errors and four service errors, while the Blue Demons had four and two respectively.

While the Hoyas began to challenge DePaul late in the set, the Blue Demons were able to hold their lead and won set one by a score of 25-18 off a kill by Wallace.

A kill by Wallace also opened the second set, and the Blue Demons earned the first three points of the set before the Hoyas were on the board.

DePaul’s offense was the star in the beginning of set two, with big kills by Brown and pin hitter Bailey Nelson.

However, the Hoyas began to close in on the Blue Demons and eventually took a one-point lead to make the score 15-14. The set remained tight after that, with points switching off between teams.

The Blue Demons were able to take a two-point lead over Georgetown that they held onto for the rest of the set. DePaul closed out the second set with a 25-20 victory over Georgetown off a service ace by Dennemann.

Like the other two, the third set was tight from the beginning, with Georgetown earning the first point and DePaul getting the second. The points go back and forth before the Blue Demons pull ahead and take the lead for the rest of the set.

While the Hoyas challenged at times, the Blue Demons maintained and increased their lead with strong offense and more errors by Georgetown and won the set 25-15 off a kill by Wallace.

“It didn’t hit me, I think, until the end that it was my last home game,” Wallace said. “But just playing out there and having fun with the team was the best part.”

Wallace led the team with 10 kills, while Price had eight, and Nelson and Karl had seven.

“We have all the momentum in the world right now,” Karl said. “Through everything that we’ve been through as a team, I mean, there’s really nothing we can’t do at this point and to be able to close out this season and win the games we needed to win is really important for this program.”

DePaul finished the regular season with an overall record of 19-11 and 12-6 in conference play. Now that the regular season is over, the Blue Demons are ready to focus on preparing for the Big East Tournament, which the team will be playing in for the first time in program history.

“We’re going to scout, we’re going to figure out who our opponent is, we’re going to get a little bit more focused on what our two hitter rotations look like with Bailey in the middle,” head coach Marie Zidek said, “Then, we’re just going to go as hard as we can at our opponent, whoever it is Friday”

The Blue Demons sit fourth in the Big East conference. The University of Connecticut sits in third place with a record of 13-5, with Creighton in the second spot at 15-2, although they play on Sunday. Marquette sits at the top of the standings with a record of 16-2.

The Big East Tournament semifinals take place on Nov. 26 and the finals take place on Nov. 27 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.