Bray and Murray lead MU past DePaul in five

Box Score (PDF)

CHICAGO – Powered by a career-high 21 kills from reigning-BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Hattie Bray, the No. 16 Marquette University women's volleyball team held off DePaul in five sets on Wednesday evening at McGrath-Phillips Arena.

"Credit to DePaul's defense on their play tonight," said MU head coach Ryan Theis. "Their dig quality was great and they won the transition game most of the night."

The Golden Eagles (19-2, 10-1 BIG EAST) hit .282 (75-24-181) and were paced by .536 hitting with a career-high 17 kills from middle blocker Carsen Murray. Murray also notched eight blocks and Bray added three.

Bray hit .500 (21-4-34) and her 21 kills are the most for an MU player since former AVCA All-American Allie Barber recorded 23 in the 2019 BIG EAST Championship title match against St. John's on Nov. 30, 2019.

Marquette dropped a marathon first set that featured 17 ties, 32-30. DePaul eventually claimed the win on its fifth set point of the frame, though MU had three opportunities to close out the frame at 28-27, 29-28 and 30-29.

MU won the second and third sets, 25-18 and 25-20, before allowing the Blue Demons to win the fourth, 25-19, and force a fifth stanza. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the final set and held on for the 15-8 victory.

DePaul (7-16, 3-8 BIG EAST), which hit .182 (65-30-192) was led by 21 kills from outside hitter Jill Pressly on .207 hitting.

NOTABLE:

MU is 3-1 this season in five-set matches. MU has previously beaten then-No. 11 Kentucky and then-No. 25 Illinois in five and lost at then-No. 21 Creighton.
Marquette is 41-29 all-time against DePaul and has faced the Blue Demons more times than any opponent outside of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
MU has won 24-straight matches against DePaul dating back to a 3-2 loss in Chicago on Nov. 1, 2008. Prior to that, MU had won seven in a row and has captured 31 of the last 32 meetings overall.
Since joining the BIG EAST for the 2005 season, MU is 27-1 against DePaul.
Marquette swept DePaul on Sept. 21 at the Al McGuire Center in this season's previous matchup as the Golden Eagles hit a BIG EAST-season-best .402, led by 14 kills from Aubrey Hamilton.
The Blue Demons were picked to finish third in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Carsen Murray entered the match leading the BIG EAST in hitting percentage and is now hitting .423 on the year after Wednesday's .536 mark. She's hitting .484 in conference play.
MU setter Yadhira Anchante posted a career-high 63 assists, along with 17 digs, for her 10th double-double of the year.

UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles will now travel to Indianapolis for Friday's 5 p.m. CT contest against Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The match airs live on FloSport.

Keep up with the Marquette University women's volleyball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteVB) and Instagram (@MarquetteVB) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball).