Box Score DENVER The University of Denver volleyball team (18-4, 6-2 SBC) defeated the Troy Trojans (12-14, 3-8 SBC) 3-1 (23-25, 25-13, 25-16, 25-16) on Friday night at Hamilton Gymnasium. The win improves the Pioneers to 12-1 at home and a perfect 5-0 in four-set matches.
“What I was most pleased with was our composure,” said head coach Beth Kuwata. “We’ve been in situations before where we haven’t managed to bounce back in set two from a difficult set one and I’m happy how we responded tonight. We were aggressive at the net and really made it difficult for Troy’s hitters to get around our blockers.”
Senior Jacqueline Paul (Albuquerque, N.M.) led the way for the Pioneers with a career-high 18 kills on 29 attacks for a .586 hitting percentage. The middle blocker also posted a career-high four services aces, while also finishing with four total blocks on the defensive side.
“I have to give a majority of the credit to our team,” Paul said. “The passes were there, especially in transition and Clare did a great job of distributing the ball.”
Also chipping in for the Pioneers were senior Holly Benson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and freshman Jordan Raines (Coppell, Texas) who both finished with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Setter Clare Maxwell finished with her 11th 40+ assist performance of the season as she dished out 42 on the night.
Defensively, the Pioneers were led by sophomore libero Kacie Wikierak’s (Crystal Lake, Ill.) 20 digs, while Benson also added 14. As a team, the Pioneers out-blocked the Trojans 12-5 at the net and out-dug them 53-43.
The Pioneers will return to the court on Sunday afternoon for a noon match against SBC east rival South Alabama. The Jaguars are 10-9 overall and 4-7 in SBC play.
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