After losing to Marian University (9-7) 0-3 last year on their home court, the Tigers (13-5) came into Thursday night's match with revenge on their minds.
But the Tigers were bit once again.
For the second straight year, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics team came to the Neil Fieldhouse and defeated the home team by a score of 3-0.
The Tigers were looking to come out with energy and enthusiasm for their attendance-breaker night but came out flat.
"It's just a really disappointing loss, because I didn't feel like they were necessarily better than we were," said head coach Deb Zellers. "But they were better than we were tonight."
The Tigers, after coming out to a 10-6 lead, lost the first game by a score of 20-25. After tying with Marian at 17-17, DePauw couldn't pull it together to close the game out.
In the second game, the story repeated. Tied at 17-17, Marian pulled ahead once again and took the game 25-19.
"A lot of it is just our mentality," Zellers said. "We're coming out tight once again. It's difficult to put your best foot forward when you're not confident and playing tight volleyball."
After DePauw timeouts, Zellers voiced frustration on her team's lack of coordination and concentration to give up unforced errors off of breaks.
"It takes accountability and desire. We came out of timeouts twice, and we had a hitter and a setter who didn't know what they were running offensively. We just gave them the point, they did nothing to earn that point," Zellers said. "A good team does not do that, a mentally tough team does not give the other team points."
In the third set, Zellers altered the team's lineup to try for a home court spark. When the Tigers went 4-0 last weekend, sophomore Tori Bowerman was in at setter and senior Kylee Lehrman was playing in the libero position. Zellers called on that lineup again to try and salvage a game. But the game could not be saved.
"Confidence is what we need to work on," said senior Paige Thompson. "It's not about the skills, we have all the skills and the talent. It's our confidence when we step back to the line to hit a serve, make sure we get a tip up and over."
After having a successful weekend where the Tigers did those fundamental things correctly, this most recent loss sets DePauw back a step. The team must now recover before its Saturday match against the College of Wooster.
"We have to get back to our accountability on all those little things so they're not holding us back," Zellers said. "We know that they're a good team, and we are not going to take them lightly."
The game begins at 11 a.m. in the Neil Fieldhouse. The Tigers will look to continue their quick start in the North Coast Athletic Conference and improve upon their 4-0 record.
"We have a habit of playing down to the team," Thompson said. "But they were pretty mediocre from what we've seen already. We need to break that habit on playing down to other people's potential."