The DePaul volleyball team begins the home portion of its schedule this weekend when it hosts the DePaul Invitational, Sept. 12-13 at McGrath Arena. The Blue Demons welcome Ball State, Denver and UTSA to Lincoln Park for the weekend tournament.
CHICAGO -- The DePaul volleyball team begins the home portion of its schedule this weekend when it hosts the DePaul Invitational, Sept. 12-13 at McGrath Arena. The Blue Demons welcome Ball State, Denver and UTSA to Lincoln Park for the weekend tournament.
DePaul begins play on Friday against Ball State (2-6) at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday sees the Blue Demons square off with UTSA (2-6) and Denver (5-1) at 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively.
DePaul is 3-2 all-time against the Invitational field. The Blue Demons and Ball State each have a single win in the series; however, the teams have not played since 1990. DePaul holds a 2-0 series advantage over UTSA and picked up a 3-1 victory in 2006. Denver won the only meeting between the two teams, a 3-0 victory last season at the Denver Invitational.
The Blue Demons (1-4) come into the weekend after grabbing their first win of the season; a 3-2 come-from-behind thriller against James Madison. DePaul is led by sophomore middle blocker Jacie Fielder. Fiedler, who was named to the BIG EAST Conference volleyball weekly honor roll last week, leads the squad with an impression .371 attack percentage and 66 kills.
Blue Demon Hits
DePaul has played three of their five matches to five sets... The Blue Demons are 1-2 when they play five sets this season and are 3-5 when playing five sets under head coach Amy Hardison... Jacie Fiedler has registered double-digit kill totals in all five Blue Demons matches... Fiedler has finished 20 career matches in double-digit kill totals... only two players (Kendall Maduzia and Ashley Graham) outside of the starting seven have entered a match for DePaul.
Golden Bear Recap
The Blue Demons grabbed thier first win of the season with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over James Madison at the Golden Bear Invitational. Jacie Fiedler was named to the all-tournament team after leading the Blue Demons with a .415 attack percentage and 42 kills (3.50 kps) in three matches. Fiedler also led DePaul with five total blocks. DePaul started out the tournament by dropping matches to No. 5 Cal and UC Riverside.
Over the Border at Ball State
The Cardinals (2-6) enter the tournament on a four match skid... three players, Alisha Green, Elaina Kakatolis and Julie Breivogel have 70 or more kills... Breivogle leads the squad with 99 kills... setter Brittany McGinnis has 275 assists (8.87 aps).
Running with the Roadrunners
UTSA (2-6)picked up its second win of the season against Georgia on Wednesday this week... previous to the win, the Roadrunners had lost five straight... Kendra Rowland leads UTSA with 113 kills... Elise Huskey is second on the team with 72 kills and leads the squad with a .202 attack percentage.
Mile High in Denver
The Pioneers (5-1) have won their last four matches coming into the weekend... Denver won their tournament with wins over Iowa and Tennessee last weekend... three players are hitting better than .300... Claire Maxwell leads the team with .438 percentage and averages 10.78 assists per set... Denver averages 2.17 blocks per set, while Jacqueline Paul averages 1.06 bps... three Pioneers hail from Illinois.
Hardison's Denver Connection
Before becoming DePaul's fourth head volleyball coach in February of 2006, Amy Hardison spent nine seasons under Beth Kuwata at Denver. Kuwata has been at the helm of the Pioneer program for the last 13 years and brought Hardison on as her assistant from 1997-2005.
All-Tournament Twice
Jacie Fiedler was named to the all-tournament at the Chicagoland Classic and the Golden Bear Invitational. At the Chicagoland, Fiedler tallied 24 kills and team-best .310 attack percentage. Fiedler outdid her opening weekend performance at the Golden Bear Invitational the following weekend. She again led DePaul with a .415 attack percentage and 42 kills. Against No. 5 Cal, Fielder registered a season-high .667 (14-0-21).
BIG EAST Honor Rolls Fiedler
Jacie Fiedler was named to the BIG EAST weekly honor roll on Sept. 8 after being named to the Golden Bear Invitational all-tournament team. Fiedler led the Blue Demons with a .415 attack percentage and 42 kills (3.50 kps) in three matches at Cal. Fiedler also led DePaul with five total blocks on the week.
2008 BIG EAST Championship
The 2008 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship will be conducted Nov. 21-23 in Pittsburgh, Pa. The single-elimination tournament includes eight of the league’s 15 teams. The top eight teams, based on regular season conference records qualify for the event and are seeded according to their finish in the league standings. The 26th annual championship will be hosted by the University of Pittsburgh at the Fitzgerald Field House. ESPNU will air the championship game live on Nov. 23. The champion receives the league’s automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship.
Louisville Favorites
The Louisville Cardinals are the top choice in the 2008 BIG EAST Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Eight of the BIG EAST’s 15 head coaches gave Louisville first-place votes, edging out defending conference champion St. John’s, which had four first-place tallies.
