Blaine Kinsey
GoSycamores.com
CHICAGO—The Indiana State University volleyball team battled tough in its final two matches of the DePaul Tournament but fell in five sets to both DePaul and Eastern Illinois Saturday.
In their first match of the day, the Sycamores faced the host Blue Demons of DePaul. The Sycamores got off to a good start as they won the first set 25-18, using an 11-3 run to end the set.
The Blue Demons battled back to take the second set before Indiana State once again pulled ahead in the third set. The Blue Demons then won a highly contested fourth set 25-22 to force a fifth set, one they would win over the Sycamores 15-11.
Senior Shea Doran finished the match with 19 kills while junior Molly Murphy added 17.
In their second match of the day and final of the tournament, the Sycamores faced off with the Panthers of Eastern Illinois.
For the first time in the 2012 season the Sycamores got behind early as they dropped the first two sets to the Panthers. The Sycamores battled their way back in the the third and fourth sets winning 25-20 and 25-23 to even the match at two matches apiece, forcing a fifth set.
Eastern Illinois proved to be too much, however, in the final set as they started off on a 5-0 run and went on to win the set 15-8 and give the Sycamores their second, five set loss of the day.
Doran again led the team in kills with 17 and three aces while Murphy added 14 kills and freshman Ashlen Buck had 16 digs.
The Sycamores will return to action Tuesday when they travel to face in-state rival IUPUI. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. in Indianapolis.
