Box Score DENVER -- Erica Menzel tallied a match-high 19 kills and 11 digs to lead the 13th-ranked UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos to a 3-0 sweep (15-6, 15-2, 15-5) of the University of Denver in nonconference volleyball action Thursday night at Hamilton Gymnasium in Denver. The Gauchos improve to 3-1, while the Pioneers fall to 0-4. Thursday's match was the start of an 11-match homestand for Denver.
UCSB hit a sizzling .390 as a team, led by Menzel's .586 efficiency mark. Brooke Rundle handled the Gaucho offense by distributing 44 assists. As a team, the Gauchos dug an amazing 56 balls from the Pioneer offense in the three games and nailed 61 of their own kills.
"UCSB played a possession game tonight," said head coach Beth Kuwata. "They dug everything we hit and waited for our errors. I'm not disappointed with our play. It would have been one thing if we didn't do anything the whole match, but we did OK in some areas. I'll keep playing these kinds of teams. We don't get better by playing the worst teams."
The Pioneers were led offensively by senior outside hitter Sarah Kaye (Aurora, Colo. / Smoky Hill), who posted eight kills. Junior Clarice Golesh (Lakewood, Colo. / Mullen) tallied 15 assists.
Denver continues its homestand this weekend by hosting the Pioneer Classic. Play starts Friday night with UMKC and San Francisco at 5 p.m., with Denver taking on Weber State at 7:30 p.m. The final four matches - two for each team - will be played Saturday. All matches will take place in Hamilton Gymnasium.
DENVER VOLLEYBALLat Denver, Colo. (Hamilton Gymnasium)#13 UC-Santa Barbara 3, DENVER 0 1 2 3#13 UC-Santa Barbara (3-1) 15 15 15DENVER (0-4) 6 2 5UC-SANTA BARBARA: Kills 61 (Erica Menzel 19, Danielle Bauer 12, BrieannaLampe 10); Digs 56 (Menzel 11); Blocks 5.0 (Simone Kuhn 3); Assists 55(Brooke Rundle 44).DENVER: Kills 27 (Sarah Kaye 8); Digs 28 (Kaye 9); Blocks 5.0 (LuluSewell 4); Assists 20 (Clarice Golesh 15).T: 1:20. A: 178.
