Sept. 28, 2004

Box Score

DENVER - The University of Denver volleyball team dropped the first game but stormed back to capture the next three as four Pioneers recorded at least 10 kills in Denver's 3-1 (34-36, 30-18, 30-26, 30-22) win over Air Force Tuesday night in Hamilton Gymnasium. The win improves Denver's record to 6-5 overall, 1-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. Air Force drops to 4-7.

A thrilling first game that saw 11 ties and five lead changes as Air Force outlasted the Pioneers 36-34 in Denver's longest single game of the season. But the Pioneers bounced right back, winning the second game 30-18 and evening the match at one game each as Denver's defense limited Air Force to a -.050 hitting percentage.

The third game was all Denver as the Pioneers recorded 21 kills and had just three attacking errors for a match-high .514 hitting percentage in a 30-26 win. Freshman Kim Muller (Ballwin, Mo.) recorded six of her career-high 12 kills in the second game, leading the Pioneers. The fourth game was more of the same for the Denver, who recorded a 20-12 kill advantage over the Falcons and held on for a 30-22 win and its first win over Air Force since 2002.

"The best part about this match was that despite the fact that we didn't play our best, we were able to battle and had some people step up and we found a way to win," head coach Beth Kuwata said. "We talked about having balance offensively and that we needed people to step up and raise the level of their games and I think we accomplished that tonight."

The Pioneers were the most balanced they have been all season, as four Pioneers recorded double digit kill matches, a season high. Freshman Alyssa Hampton (Parkville, Md.) tied Denver's season-high for a single match with a career-high 22 and freshmen Sarah Wirth (Sacramento, Calif.) and Muller each had 12. Junior Amanda Millard (Southlake, Texas) had 11 for the Pioneers.

Denver is next in action on Friday when it returns to conference play and hosts North Texas at 7 p.m. in Hamilton Gymnasium.