DENVER - Led by five Pioneers in double-figure kills, the University of Denver volleyball team rallied back from a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2 (28-26, 22-25, 22-25, 30-28, 17-15) over the visiting Idaho Vandals on Monday night from Hamilton Gymnasium. The win improves the Pioneers to 14-10 overall, 7-6 in Western Athletic Conference play, while the Vandals slip to 11-13 overall to 9-5 in the WAC.

"It was a tough match for both sides," said head coach Jesse Mahoney. "I think it was kind of a battle of attrition. The game started with both sides playing at a really high level, and we were just the ones left standing in the end. I was proud of my team for gutting it out and playing hard in each set. Every set was competitive, and I think we can find something to grow from in this match."

Junior Colleen King (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) led the Pioneers with 21 kills, while freshman Michele Swope (Orlando, Fla.) finished with her sixth career double-double with 11 kills and a personal best 20 digs. Also scoring for the Pioneers were senior Faimie Kingsley (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 13 kills and 10 blocks, while juniors Brea Muhle (Columbus, Neb.) and Alex Turgeon (Cherry Hills Village, Colo.) chipped in 10 kills each.

Setters Bailey Karst (Aurora, Colo.) and Frances Carroll (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) both finished with double doubles as well as Karst tallied 33 assists and 12 digs, and Carroll finished with 27 assists and 15 digs.

Also finishing with double-digit digs was sophomore Kate Acker (Waukesha, Wis.) with 18 digs and senior Lyndi Johnson (Flower Mound, Texas) with 11 digs.

Allison Walker led the way for the Vandals with 22 kills, while Alex Sele finished with 12.

Down 2-1, the Pioneers spent most of the fourth set trailing the Vandals until Denver finally sited the set 23-23, forcing Idaho to call timeout. Both teams continue to trade points for the next 10 plays until the Pioneers took the lead off a kill by Swope and a block by Kingsley to take the set 30-28 and force a fifth and final set.

The same was true for the fifth set as both teams battled for each and every point. With the score tied at 14-14, the Vandals got a kill from Alyssa Schultz coming out of a Pioneer-called timeout, before Muhle tied it again off a pass from Carroll. The Pioneers then closed out the set and the match with back-to-back errors by the Vandals.

Up next the Pioneers host Utah State on Thursday night in Hamilton Gymnasium at 7 p.m. MT. The match will be available live on Pioneer Vision and fans can also follow along via Live Stats.

Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 17 of DU's NCAA Division I sports.

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