The DePaul volleyball team (8-15, 3-7) couldn’t come up with its fourth conference win Sunday afternoon, despite a commendable effort that forced a fifth and deciding frame, losing to Pittsburgh (17-25, 25-18, 7-25, 25-17, 13-15). The Panthers (14-12, 5-7) made their final volleyball appearance at DePaul as a member of the Big East Conference.
DePaul, coming off Friday’s impressive 3 -1 victory against South Florida, was looking to win its first back-to-back since early September when the Blue Demons defeated USC Upstate and Chicago State. Unfortunately, Pitt has been dominant versus DePaul, taking nine straight from the Blue Demons since both teams began Big East play in 2005. Despite the loss, this match displayed some of the best volleyball the Blue Demons have played all season.
The first set started out slow for DePaul despite the constant attack from freshman outside hitter Callie Huebener, who recorded six of the Blue Demons’ 11 kills. Pitt didn’t stay too far ahead of DePaul until the 15 point mark, where its 15 -11 lead quickly grew to a 25 -17 set win.
In response to the 1 -0 deficit the Blue Demons turned quickly to their junior transfer Vesela Zapryanova, who contributed five kills and four digs. Zapryanova, who didn’t play in the first set, joined Huebener to form DePaul’s offensive duo. The Blue Demons and Panthers were neck and neck throughout the second set until the score was 16 -15 in favor of DePaul, and Huebener delivered three straight kills. DePaul never looked back in the set, winning 25 -18 and evening things out before the half.
In the third set, Pitt seemed determined to pacify DePaul, forcing the Demons to a .033 attack percentage and keeping them in single digits on the scoreboard. DePaul dropped the third set 25 -7, giving Pitt every reason to believe it was a downhill battle.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, this was not the case. The fourth and fifth sets proved to be the most exciting, as the Blue Demons essentially became a new team. In the fourth set senior Rachel Aumann came into play hitting two consecutive kills early on, giving DePaul a 6- 4 lead. Aumann seemed to find her shots at the right times, finishing the fourth set with nine well-timed kills.
Junior Genesis Reyes tacked on four straight points for DePaul after a tie at 12-all that would grant the Blue Demons a little breathing room on their way to a 25-17 set victory. DePaul was sent to its first five-set match since Sept. 29, when the Blue Demons dropped a heartbreaker to Wisconsin-Green Bay.
DePaul began the fifth set with ease, as Zapryanova hammered three straight aces. The Blue Demons took a 7 -3 lead that caused Pitt to use a timeout. The Panthers looked flustered to start the set, but after the 7 -3 timeout, they began their run to victory. Once the Panthers took the lead 13-12, it seemed that the lights were out for DePaul’s attack. Pitt won the set 15-13, handing DePaul its third five-set loss this season.
“At this point in the end of the season, I can say we’ve played much better volleyball,” said head coach Nadia Edwards. “We just have to finish what we’ve started.”
DePaul begins its East Coast road trip Nov.3 when the team takes on Rutgers at 1 p.m.
