DENVER The University of Denver volleyball team closed out its final home tournament of the 2007 regular season with a 3-0 win (30-22, 30-23, 30-21) over Washington State Saturday night in the last match of the Pioneer Classic at Hamilton Gymnasium.
“It was important for us to bounce back after the last couple of matches and get this win,” head coach Beth Kuwata said. “We’ve had matches where we’ve had chances to win and just couldn’t get it done. It was nice to get the win tonight as a reward for playing close.”
The win improved the Pioneers to 5-7 on the season, and snapped a four-match losing streak. Washington State fell to 9-5.
Junior Holly Benson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) led all players with 12 kills. Sophomore Clare Maxwell led all players with 35 assists. Senior Kim Muller (Ballwin, Mo.) had eight kills for .429 hitting percentage and set a career-high with nine digs. Senior Alyssa Hampton committed just one attack error on the evening, recording nine kills for .571 hitting percentage. Hampton added eight digs to the Pioneers total as well.
“We had a balanced offensive attack tonight,” said Kuwata. “I’m happy with how both of our middles played.”
In the first game of the match, the Pioneers and Cougars stayed knotted up early, but Denver took the lead as WSU’s Brittany Johnson committed an attack error on a rally where Hampton saved a dig by sliding into the scorer’s table. Porter recorded three consecutive Pioneer points with kills, to give DU a 20-15 lead. The Pioneers would stretch their lead to eight and went on to win, 30-22. Benson, junior Kerry Porter (Western Springs, Ill.) and Hampton had four kills each as DU hit .325 in the frame, holding Washington State to .171.
DU struggled early in the second game, trailing by as many as seven. Denver would tie the game at 21-21 on a kill by Hampton, part of a 12-5 Pioneer run. The Pioneers took the lead as WSU’s Cassie Robbins hit the ball out-of-bounds. Denver capitalized on three consecutive errors by the Cougars to take a three-point lead that they would extend on for the 30-23 win. Washington State recorded 18 errors in the frame, while DU hit .219.
After the break, Denver came out looking to close out the match getting out to an early lead. WSU tied the match at 5-5 but Denver surged ahead, recording five straight points to lead, 10-5. The Pioneers would lead by as many as seven before Washington State crept back into the match, getting within three. After a timeout by Coach Kuwata, Porter registered another kill to give DU an 18-14 lead. The Pioneers would push their lead to as many as 11 and went on to win, 30-20.
Benson was named to the Pioneer Classic All-Tournament team along with WSU’s Kelly Hyder and Ohio’s Stephanie Blackburn and Melissa Griffin. Long Beach State, who finished the tournament 3-0, placed Michaela Hasalikova, Quincy Verdin and MVP Alexis Crimes on the all-tournament team as well.
The Pioneers hit the road for a non-conference match-up with Front Range rival Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.
