Sept. 4, 2001

Stats

DENVER - Sophomore middle blocker Andrea Baron (West Vancouver, British Columbia / West Vancouver HS) led all players with 20 kills, but it wasn't enough to lead the Pioneers to victory as the University of Washington defeated the University of Denver, 3-2 (15-30, 30-23, 30-26, 23-30, 15-8), in women's volleyball action Tuesday night at Hamilton Gymnasium.

Allison Richardson had 17 kills and a match-high 10 blocks for the Huskies (2-2), who looked lethargic in a Denver-dominated first game. The Pioneers (2-3) had just seven kills, but they came on just 13 swings as they hit a whopping .462. Washington also contributed 14 points to the Pioneers after allowing eight service aces and committing six service errors in the game.

The Huskies got on track in the next two games, however, slamming 30 kills and limiting the Pioneers to sub-.100 hitting as a team.

Denver would tie the match at two games apiece in the fourth by pounding 14 kills to UW's 11, yet in the deciding fifth game, Washington committed just one attack error with nine kills on 19 attempts (.421). In contrast, the Pioneers hit just .111 in the final game thanks to four attack errors.

"Especially with the new rally scoring, you can see what making errors does to a team," said head coach Beth Kuwata. "The first game was a gift to us. We knew they weren't going to have that many errors again. They did a good job of running their middles, in the beginning, they hardly ran them at all, and that was to our advantage. In game four, we did a better job of passing and running our offense. But we made too many errors in the end."

The Pioneers hit the road this weekend for the Montana State Holiday Inn Classic, Sept. 7-8, in Bozeman, Mont. There Denver will face Indiana State, TCU, and the host Bobcats.

DENVER VOLLEYBALLat Denver, Colo. (Hamilton Gymnasium)Washington 3, DENVER 1                 1   2   3   4   5Washington (2-2)  15  30  30  23  15DENVER (2-3)      30  23  26  30   8
UW: Kills 61 (Richardson 17, Benjamin 12, Underhill 10),    Digs 45 (Churnside 12), Blocks 14 (Richardson 10),    Assists 55 (Maurer 53).DENVER: Kills 51 (Baron 20), Digs 46 (Hughes 8),        Blocks 14 (Baron 9), Assists 46 (Golesh-Burch 44).T: 2:05. A: 315.