Georgetown’s volleyball team (9-15, 3-8 Big East) earned a split of two weekend home games in the McDonough Arena, defeating DePaul (3-20, 1-10 Big East) in a thrilling five-set match Friday before falling to conference title contenders Marquette (17-6, 8-3 Big East) in straight sets Sunday.

The Hoyas were led by standout individual performances by several players Friday. Freshman outside hitter Terese Cannon finished with a career-high 29 kills, senior libero MacKenzie Simpson recorded a career-high 36 digs, and freshman setter Casey Speer registered career highs in assists (63), kills (5) and service aces (3).

The Hoyas came out hot in the first set, racing to an 8-3 lead. However, the Blue Demons chipped away at the lead until they finally tied the game at 22-22, and a kill by junior middle blocker Jasmine King eventually closed the set in DePaul’s favor with a score of 26-24.

Georgetown showed resilience from the start of the second set, bouncing back to tie the match with a 25-23 set win, as Speer delivered a crucial and surprising kill. Speer typically looks to set up the Hoyas’ hitters, but on this occasion she snuck a shot into a gap within the Blue Demons’ defense, where it landed untouched.

“They’re never expecting it because our hitters are so good, so they’re going to expect me to set them, because they always put the ball down. Sometimes, I like to mix it up and keep them guessing,” Speer said.

DePaul managed to keep Georgetown at arm’s length for the majority of the third set, eventually holding an 18-13 lead. However, the Hoyas fired back, closing to within one point at 19-18 when Speer and junior outside hitter Lauren Saar fended off two Blue Demon attacks with incredible diving digs before Cannon finished the point with one of her eight third-set kills. After a few more volleying points, Saar recorded a service ace, closing the back-and-forth set for the Hoyas with a score of 26-24.

DePaul rebounded to claim a tense fourth set, 28-26, but Georgetown was finally able to pull away in the fifth set, taking the deciding set 15-11. This ended an extraordinarily close game, as the fifth set was the only set in the match that was decided by more than two points.

Cannon led the Hoyas on offense throughout the night, as she was consistently aggressive, looking to end points quickly.

“I was matched up against a shorter blocker, and Casey [Speer] was setting awesome balls,” Cannon said.

Head Coach Arlisa Williams was thrilled with her team’s grit and determination to win.

“I think that they showed so much heart. They were confident that we could take this, and they knew that if we did our jobs on our side, that we would be able to come out on top,” Williams said.

Georgetown faced a more difficult opponent in a game against Marquette on Sunday. The Golden Eagles represented a formidable test for the Hoyas, who eventually succumbed in straight sets (25-22, 25-22, 25-12). Senior outside hitter Alex Johnson recorded a double-double in the loss, scoring a team-high 12 kills along with 10 digs.

In the first set, the Hoya defense was led by Saar, who recorded nine of her 13 digs in that span, and the Golden Eagles were never able to gain a significant advantage. However, Marquette eventually closed the set with a score of 25-22 after Georgetown made two consecutive attack errors. The Hoyas started strong in the second set, racing out to a 15-8 lead. After a Marquette timeout, though, the Golden Eagles reeled off 17 of the next 24 points, seizing the set 25-22.

Williams was still pleased with her team’s effort in the first two sets.

“I think that they came out, they played hard, they competed, they were aggressive, they did everything that we’ve been talking about all year,” Williams said.
Saar was also pleased with the team’s performance.

“I think the first two sets were especially fun. We came out and played really hard,” Saar said. “We were making plays and making the right shots.”

The Hoyas suffered an unfortunate setback late in the second set, when Simpson, one of Georgetown’s co-captains, was forced to exit with an arm injury. As a result, junior defensive specialist Emily Gisolfi moved over to take Simpson’s libero position, but Georgetown’s defensive rotation was then thrown off after losing one of its key players. As a result, Marquette was able to win the third set by a relatively comfortable score of 25-12.

Georgetown will look to build off these matches as it begins a stretch of five consecutive road games, starting with a match at Creighton next Saturday, Nov. 1.