Junior Mandy Moorberg led the Blue Demons with 12 service aces on the day. The Blue Demons defeated Birmingham Southern 3-0, but fell to Eastern Illinois in the evenings last match 3-0.
CHICAGO- Eastern Illinois finished the first day of the Blue Demon Invitational in first place, notching two wins over Western Illinois and DePaul. Tournament host, DePaul finished the day 1-1. Xavier won its only match of the day, while Birmingham Southern lost its only match. The Invitational attracted 1,031 fans to the DePaul Athletic Center on Friday and will conclude on Saturday.
Eastern Illinois (7-2) took the first match of the day from Western Illinois 3-1 (30-19, 30-23, 28-30, 30-27). The Panthers finished with three players in double-digit kill totals. Megan Kennedy, Mary Welch and Maren Crabtree recorded 43 of the teams 65 kills.
DePaul’s dominate presence at the net secured its win over Birmingham Southern (4-4) in second match of the day. The Blue Demons (5-5) downed Birmingham Southern 3-0 (30-17, 30-23, 30-21). DePaul ended the match with a new season team-high hitting percentage of .389. Mandy Moorberg led the Blue Demon offensive charge with 15 kills while Amy Holmes and Morgan Ingersoll finished with 13 and 10, respectively.
Xavier (4-5) played one match on Friday, defeating Western Illinois, 3-1 (30-21, 32-34, 30-20, 30-25) in the third match of the day. The Musketeer duo of Kate Duchek and Astyn Bjorklund each tallied 20 plus kills. Bjorklund led all players with 23 kills and a .579 attack percentage. Xavier setter Molly Martin tallied 74 assists on the evening.
Eastern took the final match of the evening from DePaul, 3-0. The Panthers commanded the match from game-one and ended with 10 more kills and a hitting percentage almost .100 higher than the Blue Demons. The Panthers Erica Gerth led her team with 15 kills and a .286 attack percentage. She also finished with 13 digs, two less than Crabtree who registered a match high 15. Goreham, led DePaul and finished with a team high 15 kills and three total blocks.
The Blue Demon Invitational continues on Saturday with the first match between Western Illinois and Birmingham Southern set to begin at 10:00 a.m.
Blue Demon Invitational Schedule
Friday, September 17
12:00 Eastern Illinois def. Western Illinois (3-1)
2:00 DePaul def. Birmingham Southern (3-0)
5:00 Xavier def. Western Illinois (3-1)
7:00 Eastern Illinois def. DePaul (3-0)
Saturday, September 18
10:00 Western Illinois vs. Birmingham Southern
12:00 Eastern Illinois vs. Xavier
2:00 DePaul vs. Xavier
5:00 Eastern Illinois vs. Birmingham Southern
7:00 DePaul vs. Western Illinois
