CHICAGO, Ill. – The Bulldogs defeated DePaul 3-2 in the 2015 BIG EAST opener on Wednesday night. Butler dropped the opening two sets, but climbed back into the mix with two-straight wins to force a fifth set. The final game went to the 'Dawgs as BU moves to 1-0 in conference action (23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-9).

"Wow, what a great comeback," Head Coach Sharon Clark said after the match. "We showed some nerves early, but got ourselves together with some amazing blocks from our middles."

Butler dominated the team blocks category 14-6. Seven different Butler student-athletes recorded at least one block with Briana Lilly and Makaila Jarema sharing the team lead with seven each. Mary Striedl was third on the team with four blocks, but it was Striedl's offense that made the biggest impact against the Blue Demons. The senior outside hitter went off for a career-high 27 kills on Wednesday giving her 20 or more kills in back-to-back matches. She hit .511 vs. DePaul as her 27 kills came on just 47 attempts with three errors. Her double-double performance also included 11 digs.

"Mary was on fire from the start and was able to lead our offense in a big way," Clark added.

A second double-double was provided by freshman Anna Logan who ended the night with 11 kills and 13 digs. Striedl, Logan and Jessica Klingensmith accounted for 51 of Butler's 66 total kills. Lilly added seven up the middle while Ferguson kept the defense honest with five from her setter position. Jessica Admire came in for two and Jarema rounded out the total with one.

The night got under way with a back and forth set that featured 14 ties and seven lead changes. The final tie of set one brought the teams together at 23-23. A BU attack error moved DePaul to set point and the Blue Demons would go up 1-0 after a kill from Callie Huebener.

Set two was close throughout, yet Butler was never able to open up a lead. The 'Dawgs burned a timeout when facing a 12-7 deficit and another at 22-18, but the momentum never left the home team as DePaul went up 2-0 at the break.

Adjustments were made for set three as Butler came out to record a 25-21 win to stay alive. BU led by five points at the midway point and would hold off a late charge from DePaul to get on the scoreboard. A kill from Striedl put Butler at set point and Logan would finish off the action with the game-winner on the following serve.

"Our defense was amazing in set three, and I really think that it gave us a huge boost" Clark stated. "We were able to record a win against a very talented DePaul team."

The fourth set tied the match at 2-2 with Butler posting an impressive 25-17 win. After some back and forth points at the start of the fourth, Butler would move forward to build a lead. The set was never in question as Butler cruised to the win, forcing the fifth and final set.

Butler never trailed in the fifth set after jumping out to a 5-2 lead. The teams switched sides at 8-3 and the Bulldogs would finish off the comeback with a 15-9 victory.

The 'Dawgs will return to action this weekend with a pair of BIG EAST matches at Hinkle Fieldhouse. St. John's will take the court on Friday at 6 p.m. with Providence visiting Indianapolis on Saturday.