DENVER The University of Denver volleyball team (14-2, 3-0 SBC) extended its winning streak to a season-high eight matches with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-14) defeat of SBC rival University of Louisiana Monroe (1-17, 0-4 SBC) at Hamilton Gymnasium on Saturday evening. The win improves the Pioneers to 9-0 at home.

 

“The key for us tonight was that we raised our level of play throughout the match, which helped us to be able to finish the match,” said head coach Beth Kuwata. “It is something that we struggled with the past couple of weeks. We talked about putting the exclamation point at the end of each set, as opposed to just finishing. We wanted to finish with a purpose and we did that tonight.”

 

Senior Kerry Porter (Western Springs, Ill.) led the way for the Pioneers with 10 kills on the night as she finished with a .471 hitting percentage. This is Porters ninth 10+ kill game of the season.  Setter Clare Maxwell (Jr., Western Springs, Ill.) finished with 35 assists for the night, her 13th 30+ assist match of the season.

 

“I think we did a great job of executing the game plan that our coaches challenged us with tonight,” said Porter. “We came out to play our game and it paid off for us tonight. It is so important for us to protect our home court because it gives us confidence as we head into more tough SBC action in the coming weeks.”

 

On the defensive side of the net, three Pioneers finished the night with double digit digs as both junior Emmy Davidsmeyer (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and senior Holly Benson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) tallied 10 digs apiece and sophomore libero Kacie Wikierak (Crystal Lake, Ill.) led the way with 17.

 

Senior Jacqueline Paul (Albuquerque, N.M.) dominated at the net for the Pioneers as she recorded one block solo and four block assists.

 

Denver took the first set 25-14, in action that saw consistent performances from the Pioneers starters. After exchanging points throughout much of the first part of the set, the Pioneers went on a 12-0 run to take a 24-12 lead on 12 serves by Davidsmeyer. Denver sealed the win on a service error by the Warhawks.

 

In set two, the Pioneers found themselves trailing early again as the Warhawks grabbed the first three points of the set.  Denver rallied back to take a 10-6 lead on seven serves from freshman Jordan Raines (Coppell, Texas). The Pioneers continued to extend their advantage and eventually closed out the set 25-17 to take a 2-0 lead going into the intermission.

 

Not willing to relinquish their home court dominance, the Pioneers started the third set on a 12-3 run, forcing ULM to call a critical timeout.  Denver continued to put the pressure on throughout the set, forcing the Warhawks to make critical offensive mistakes. The Pioneers sealed the victory on a 6-3 run that included kills by freshmen duo of Corinne Richards (Greely, Colo.) and Alyssa Bonelli (Superior, Colo.)

 

Denver continues its three-match SBC home stand against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Sunday, Oct. 5, in Hamilton Gymnasium at 7 p.m. Fans can follow the action over the internet via Live Stats or can catch the action live by coming to Hamilton Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Denver.

 

- PIONEERS -