DENVER The University of Denver volleyball team (24-6, 13-4 SBC) swept Arkansas Little Rock (23-7, 12-5 SBC) in straight sets (25-16, 25-14, 25-22) on Friday night in Hamilton Gymnasium to grab sole possession of first place in the SBC West Division.

 

The Pioneers also celebrated senior night as Holly Benson (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Jacqueline Paul (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Kerry Porter (Western Springs, Ill.) were honored in a pre-match ceremony.

 

“It’s an enormous win for us for many reasons, one of which is that it brings us closer to meeting one of our goals of winning the West Division again,” said head coach Beth Kuwata. “It was a great match against a tough opponent and I was thrilled with how our team came together. We had great energy throughout both the first and second sets and when it felt like our energy might be slipping a little, we had a big lift from some of our girls that we subbed in. They provided a huge spark for us down the stretch.”

 

The Pioneers were led by Benson as she finished with 12 kills and 10 digs, her 18th of the season, while junior Emmy Davidsmeyer (Colorado Springs, Colo.) smacked down nine kills on 14 total attacks for an even .500 hitting percentage.

 

Setter Clare Maxwell (Western Springs, Ill.) spread the ball nicely among the offense as she notched 32 assists. Libero Kacie Wikierak (Crystal Lake, Ill.) led the team defensively with 16 digs, while Paul tallied four total blocks at the net.

 

After taking the first two sets by commanding leads, the Pioneers found a much tougher opponent in the Trojans in the third set as they found themselves trailing UALR for much of the set. With the score tied 18-18, UALR began to pull on back-to-back kills by Katie McCutcheon and a Pioneer miscue to take a 21-18 lead.

 

Fearing the set slipping away, the Pioneers rattled off three quick points off kills by Porter, Benson and a service ace by Wikierak to pull even at 21 all. Denver gave up only one more point before closing out the set and the match on a 4-0 run that included kills by Paul and Davidsmeyer.

 

The win moves the Pioneers into sole possession of first place in the SBC West Division standings. The Pioneers will face Arkansas State on Saturday at noon in their final match of the regular season and must win to repeat as SBC West Division Champions.

 

 

- PIONEERS -