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Blue Demons Pound ISU, Bishop Sets Record
CHICAGO -- The Blue Demon volleyball squad returned to its winning ways defeating Illinois State 30-27, 30-26, 30-26. Senior Stephanie Bishop finished with match highs in kills with 16 and in digs with 15. Bishop racked up 10 of her 16 digs in the first two games making her the Conference USA career digs leader surpassing former Houston Cougar Kristin Guidish. Bishop now has 1,608 digs in her four-year career. "I'm proud of the record, and I'm really proud of how well the team is doing," said Bishop. "Murph (senior Melissa Murphy) was awesome defensively tonight, Flan (senior Mary Anne Flanigan) served great tonight and Kara (senior Kara Jakusz) kept ISU off-balance all night." Murphy finished the night with 12 digs and Jakusz dished out 53 assists along with nine digs. The Blue Demons fell behind early in games one and two but rallied to win both. In game one, ISU jumped out to an early 15-7 lead. DePaul responded by scoring 11 of the next 14 points to square the match at 18. The teams matched each other the next 12 points, but it was the Blue Demons who ran off six of the game's final nine points to win the game 30-27. In the second game, Illinois State jumped ahead 10-5 and built its lead to 21-15. The Blue Demons responded by scoring the next eight points and ISU never recovered. Bishop pounded 10 kills in the game to carry the Demons. DePaul finished the match with a 30-26 victory in game three. The Blue Demons never trailed in the game. After jumping out to an early 7-2 lead, Illinois State fought back to tie the score at 13-13. The Blue Demons then built its lead to 24-17 and never looked back. Senior Christa Dirr added 13 kills and senior Melissa Nordine finished with 10 digs. The win snapped the Blue Demons three-match losing streak and improves the squad to 14-4 on the season. Illinois State drops to 9-7 on the season. DePaul is next in action Friday when they travel to Southern Mississippi for a 7:00 p.m. match. The Blue Demons then face Tulane at 7:00 pm. Saturday. "Tulane is on a terror and Southern Mississippi is a dangerous team," said Bishop. "We have to be on top of our game this weekend and remain focused the rest of the season"
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