Sept. 25, 2004

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS - Sophomore Lisa Hunter (St. Louis, Mo.) recorded a team-high 17 kills but the University of Denver volleyball team suffered it first loss in four matches as the University of New Orleans swept the Pioneers 3-0 (30-26, 30-22, 30-22) Friday night in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams. With the loss, Denver drops to 5-6, 0-1 in SBC on the season. New Orleans improves to 9-2, 1-0.

New Orleans was the stronger team from the outset, recording at least 20 kills in each of the three games and finishing the match with a .273 attack percentage. Denver had a .142 hitting percentage and had seven blocks but also had 19 attack errors and three service errors.

Hunter led Denver with 17 kills and was one of three Pioneers to record double digits in kills. Freshman Sarah Wirth (Sacramento, Calif.) was Denver's best attacker with a .357 attack percentage (6 k, 1 e, 14 ta) and also recorded a team-best three blocks. Junior Sarah Adamis (Naperville, Ill.) had a team-high 12 digs for the Pioneers.

"If I could say anything about this match it would be that defensively they made more defensive plays than we did," head coach Beth Kuwata said. "We couldn't get anything going offensively and we struggled to find any kind of rythym. Hopefully it comes to us tomorrow."

The Pioneers end their two-game trip tomorrow when they face South Alabama at 6 p.m. Denver has won seven consecutive matches against the Jaguars.