DePauw volleyball won two straight games on Saturday, beating St. Mary's College and Thiel College. The two games were both decided in three sets.
Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Falotico recorded 12 kills and 12 digs in the game against St.Mary's.
The Tigers put up a strong performance against Thiel. They won their first set against the Tomcats 25-8. The Tigers went on to win next two sets 25-18 and 25-14. Junior Mary Kate Etling led all players with 10 kills in the contest.
The pair of wins came after a heartbreaking season opener against host Ohio Northern University. DePauw had 56 kills and 169 total attempts, while Ohio Northern had 59 kills and 170 total attempts. The box score is an indication of how evenly the two teams were matched. The Tigers lost the match in five sets.
Sophomore defensive specialist Keely McGrath was one of the Tiger's brightest stars in the season opener. McGrath recorded 21 defensive digs and two assists.
"The loss to Ohio Northern on Friday night fueled the team even more," McGrath said. "We came out with more energy and more drive to beat the two teams we faced on Saturday. We have an attitude this season of never being satisfied, so the two wins we had this weekend are great, but we definitely have more to work on."
Sophomore Faith Rolwes also performed well during the contest with 44 assists and 13 digs. Rolwes averaged over 36 assists per game in the three-game stretch, earning her a place on the all-tournament team.
"My passers did a really good job all weekend giving me good passes so that I could run a fast offense and my hitters did a great job of hitting their shots and putting balls away," Rowles said. "Definitely wouldn't have received this award without them."
This weekend wasn't the first time Rolwes earned such honors. As a first-year, Rolwes was named to the Washington-St. Louis Labor Day Classic All-Tournament Team. It was the first tournament of the Tigers' season.
Rolwes has high hopes that the team can repeat last season's success. In 2012, they opened the season 0-2, with losses to Dominican University and Washington University in St. Louis. They finished that opening weekend with a sweep, the start of a 17 game win streak for the Tigers.
This season, they find themselves in a familiar place after a 2-1 start.
"We did a really good job of bouncing back after our loss and then winning our next two matches...I'm really excited for this season," Rolwes said.
The Tigers next match is this Friday at the Charlie Wrublewski Tournament. They take on Heidelberg University, who also has a 2-1 record. Heidelberg swept Thiel and St. Mary's, and they lost against Ohio Northern in five sets.
