Sept. 7, 2002

Box Score

The University of Denver volleyball team dropped a pair of close matches at the Sands Regency/SBC Invitational Saturday, falling to Portland 3-2 (30-24, 28-30, 28-30, 30-18, 15-10) and UC Riverside 3-1 (30-25, 25-30, 30-22, 30-22) in the final day of the tournament hosted by the University of Nevada. Denver dropped to 0-4 on the season.

The Pioneers put forth a solid effort in the first match against Portland, attacking on a .216 clip led by junior Olympia Hughes (Casper, Wyo.), who paced the Pioneers with 18 kills. Sophomore Jen Karas (Granby, Colo.) also had 11 kills for Denver, who lost the first game but came back to take a 2-1 lead by winning games 2 and 3 by 30-18 scores. The Pilots knotted the match at 2-2 with a 30-18 win in game 4, and clinched the match with a 15-10 win in the final frame. Defensively, the Pioneers had 57 kills in the match but it was not enough.

In the second match against UC Riverside, the Pioneers won the first game 30-25 but dropped the last three games. Three Pioneers finished in double digits in kills, led by Hughes' 14. Karas added 12 kills and junior Andrea Baron (West Vancouver, B.C.) had 13 and a team-best .500 attacking percentage in the four games.

"Our defensive game, blocking and digging, has to improve immensly or we're going to have a tough couple of weeks," head coach Beth Kuwata said. "Our offense was much better, but we need to have an entire match with all facets of our game ready to go and right now that's just not happening. We had a better effort in the first game but it was still not enough to get a win."

The Pioneers are in action again next Friday when they host the Pioneer Classic, featuring Fresno State, Southern Mississippi, and Montana State. Denver opens play Friday with 7:30 p.m. tilt against Fresno State.