Nov. 7, 2003

Box Score

DENVER - The University of Denver volleyball team, despite winning the first game and holding North Texas to under .200 hitting percentages in both the third and fourth games, dropped a 3-2 (30-22, 24-30, 30-32, 23-30) decision Friday night to the Mean Green in Hamilton Gymnasium. The Pioneers have lost three matches in a row for the first time all season and fell to 15-12 overall, 6-6 in the Sun Belt Conference. North Texas improved to 20-11, 10-2.

The Pioneers came out firing on all pistons in the first game, recording a blistering .514 hitting percentage with 20 kills and just two errors in a 30-22 win. Six Pioneers recorded at least one kill in the game and seniors Andrea Baron (West Vancouver, B.C) and Olympia Hughes (Casper, Wyo.) each had five to lead Denver.

In the second game the Pioneers jumped out to a 7-1 lead early on but North Texas went on a 13-6 run to take it first lead of the game at 14-13. The two teams traded points until the score was tied at 24-all when North Texas scored the next six points for a 30-24 win. The Pioneers recorded a match-low.170 hitting percentage in the game and North Texas held a 20-14 kill advantage in squaring up the match. The highlight of the game for the Pioneers was a kill by Hughes that gave Denver a 19-18 lead, the 1000th kill of her career. She became just the seventh player in Denver history to reach 1000 kills for a career and the first to accomplish the feat since Kellie Savage in 2001.

The third game saw Denver again jump out to a big lead. The Pioneers led for most of the game until North Texas came all the way back to tie the game at 22-all on a service ace by Kristin Sheppard. Denver then went on a 3-0 run to take a 26-23 lead before another UNT run evened the game at 29-all. After an attack error by North Texas' Brittney Gregory gave Denver a 30-29 lead, North Texas scored the next three points to take the second game 32-30.

The fourth game was a more back-and-forth affair, with neither team holding more than a three point advantage until a 6-1 run by North Texas gave the Mean Green a 22-17 lead. The Pioneers desperately tried to get back in the match but got no closer than four points the rest of the way in a 30-23 loss. Denver recorded a .229 attack percentage in the game and had three blocks but it wasn't enough.

"The difference tonight was that when the games got close at the end we just couldn't make a play," head coach Beth Kuwata said. "In the fourth game we couldn't pass and it put pressure on us to earn points and we couldn't come through. I was pleased with our effort, but this puts some more pressure on us in Sunday's match."

Sunday's match against Louisiana-Lafayette (noon MST) is a pivotal one for the Pioneers in terms of seeding in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in two weeks. The Pioneers need a win to cement their place as one of the top eight teams.