Nov. 18, 2005

Box Score

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Sophomore Kim Muller (Ballwin, Mo.) tallied a team-high 15 kills with a .520 attack percentage and junior Lisa Hunter (St. Louis, Mo.) grabbed her 1000th career kill, but it was not enough to overcome the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee, who swept Denver 19-30, 24-30, 29-31 Friday in the semifinal round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Denver falls to 16-10 on the season while Middle Tennessee improves to 28-4 heading into Saturday's final.

"I was please with our level of effort in game three," said head coach Beth Kuwata. "We fought back and played them tight. It was probably some of the best volleyball we've played in a long time. Unfortunately, we did not get into that rhythm early enough in the match."

In game one, the Pioneers struggled to find a rhythm and Middle Tennessee capitalized with a four-point run, taking a 9-5 lead. DU got kills from Muller and Hunter to come within two at 12-10, but Middle Tennessee did not relinquish the advantage, scoring six straight points to take game one 30-19.

Not much changed in game two for Denver, as the Pioneers put up identical numbers in games one and two with 14 kills and 10 errors. It was not until game three that DU showed more life and grabbed its first lead of the match on a three-point run with kills from Muller and Amanda Millard (Southlake, Texas). The lead continued to change hands late into the game as Denver continued to fight, tying the game at 29 off kills from Muller and Holly Benson (Colorado Springs, Colo.). However, the Blue Raiders held off Denver to take game three and the match.

Hunter's first kill in the game two marked her 1000th in three seasons at DU. The first-team all-conference selection finished the night with 10 and improves to 350 on the season. Defensively, Benson led the Pioneers with 14 digs.

Denver concludes the 2005 season at home, with the Wells Fargo Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 25-26 hosting Colorado, Northern Colorado and Florida.