MOBILE, Ala. Senior Kim Muller (Ballwin, Mo.) had a career-high 24 kills, and four other Pioneers recorded double-figure kills, as the University of Denver volleyball team defeated South Alabama Friday evening at Jag Gym, 3-1 (30-22, 30-19, 31-33, 30-19).

“What we did in game four - more so then in any other game - was that we blocked better,” head coach Beth Kuwata said. “We got great touches but we just didn’t do a good job of putting it on the net. Overall, when we play well we play exceptionally well. In game three we lost focus. They attacked better in that game but we responded on game four with our style of play and one.”

Denver (14-9, 8-2 SBC) outblocked South Alabama (8-14, 2-9 SBC) 11.0 to 5.0 and recorded a .351 attack percentage. DU had 76 total kills, 67 assists and 72 digs in the match to USA’s 54 kills, 52 assists and 60 digs.

Muller hit .488 in the match. Two Pioneers, senior Alyta Baris (Belvidere, Ill.) and sophomore Clare Maxwell (Western Springs, Ill.) set career-high attack percentages with .667 and .636, respectively. Senior Alyssa Hampton (Parkville, Mo.) had 12 kills, while Baris, juniors Holly Benson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Kerry Porter (Western Springs, Ill.) had 11 apiece. Maxwell registered 62 assists, one shy of her career-high, and freshman Kacie Wikierak (Crystal Lake, Ill.) had a match-high 22 digs.

The first game of the match had the Pioneers and Jaguars locked up five times, the last at 12-12, before Denver went on a 5-0 run to take the 17-12 lead. Up 20-15, Hampton recorded three consecutive kills, extending DU’s lead to seven. The Pioneers would go on to win 30-22. Denver forced South Alabama into 14 errors in the game, while DU had just three attack errors in the frame.

Denver kept the pressure on in game two, getting out to an early 5-1 lead, but South Alabama came back and knotted the frame at 10-10. DU went on a 10-3 run to build a 20-13 lead over USA. The Jaguars pulled within three points forcing Coach Kuwata to call a timeout. Out of the break, DU pushed the lead to four points and never looked back. Denver ripped off six unanswered points to closeout the game for the 30-19 win.

Despite trailing most of game three, Denver tied the frame at 21-21 on an error by South Alabama. DU would tie the game five more times but back-to-back ball handling errors by the Pioneers would give USA the 33-31 win. The Jaguars had their best hitting percentage game of the match with .222, while DU hit its lowest, .184. Denver committed 12 errors in the game.

The Pioneers dominated game four from the start and went on to win 30-19. DU tallied 20 kills and six blocks in the game, as Muller led the way with eight kills.

Denver’s road trip continues at Troy on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 5 p.m.