Sept. 13, 2002

Final Stats

DENVER - The University of Denver volleyball team attacked on just a .037 hitting percentage Friday night and suffered its fifth straight loss to open the season, 3-0 (30-18, 30-18, 30-23) to Fresno State in the second game of the Pioneer Classic in Hamilton Gymasium. Denver dropped to 0-5 on the season for the first time since the 1998 season, when the Pioneers lost their first six games. Fresno State improves to 6-1.

The Pioneers recorded just 30 kills and registered 26 attacking errors, accounting for a season-low attacking percentage of 0.37. The Pioneers also had 11 errors on their serve while Fresno State recorded just seven. Junior Jen Karas (Granby, Colo.) was the lone Pioneer in double figures in kills as she led the team with 10.

"We were pretty inconsistent in all facets of the game," head coach Beth Kuwata said. "As long as most of our players are inconsistent, we're going to struggle and that's what happened tonight. I did see one are in which we did improve and that was our movement along the net and our blocking. Fresno State's just a great defensive team. I thought if we could have gotten the ball to their outside hitters more instead of to their middles it could have been a different outcome."

The first game of the Pioneer Classic saw Montana State outlast Southern Mississippi 3-1. Denver is in action in two games tomorrow, facing Southern Mississippi in the first game at 1 p.m. MST and taking on Montana State in the second game at 7:30 p.m.