INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Led by five Pioneers finishing with double-digit kills, the University of Denver volleyball team came back from two sets down to defeat South Dakota 3-2 in the Semifinals of The Summit League Volleyball Tournament to advance to the Championship game on Sunday.

After dropping sets one and two, 28-26 and 25-12, respectively, the No. 2 seeded Pioneers came back to top the No. 3 seeded Coyotes 25-22, 25-19 and 15-12 to win the match and improve to 17-11 on the season.

“We started the match very tentatively and really handed set one to South Dakota and got blown out in set two,” said head coach Jesse Mahoney. “Our players rallied between set two and three and made the decision to play aggressively from that point on. Once we started to ball control our middles, Sarah and Brea came up huge for us. We got the jitters out and are ready to play for a championship tomorrow.”

Freshman Moni Corrujedo (El Paso, Texas) and sophomore Sarah Schmid (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) led the Pioneers with 17 kills each, while senior Brea Muhle (Columbus, Neb.) finished with 16 kills and a team-high .577 hitting percentage. Schmid’s performance made for a new career-high.

Also finishing with double-digit kills was freshman Nola Basey (Lyons, Colo.) and senior Cassie Ronda (Chandler, Ariz.) with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Sophomore setter Tori Moons (Visalia, Calif.) recorded a career-high 61 assists.

Defensively, junior libero Kate Acker (Waukesha, Wis.) finished with 15 digs, while Basey and Corrujedo both chipped in with 15 and 11 digs, respectively. Muhle led the way with three blocks while Schmid and Basey both finished with two each.

The Summit League’s Offensive Player of the Year Kendall Kritenbrink led all scorers with 23 kills each, while Audrey Reeg and Melissa Firtko both added 16 and 10 kills, respectively.

Next up, the Pioneers will take on tournament hosts and top-seeded IUPUI in the championship game on Sunday at 12 p.m. The Pioneers split with IUPUI this season, defeating the Jaguars 3-1 on Sept. 27 before falling 3-1 to them on Oct. 26.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Pioneers had five players record 10-plus kills.  Sarah Schmid and Moni Corrujedo each tallied 17 kills, while Brea Muhle added 16, Nola Basey had 12 and Cassie Ronda had 10.
• South Dakota's Kendall Kritenbrink, the 2013 Summit League Player of the Year, posted a match-high 23 kills.  Audrey Reeg chipped in 16 kills and Melissa Firtko had 10.
• USD held a 74-63 advantage in digs.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Denver won its first league tournament match and advances to its first league tournament championship match.
• DU's Moni Corrujedo tallied a .577 hitting percentage (16-1-26), the seventh-best hitting percentage in a tournament match in league history, while Sarah Schmid posted a .556 clip (17-2-27), tying for ninth.

MEDIA/LIVE STATS

Fans can watch the action live via a live stream provided by hosts IUPUI. Brian Bosma will be providing the play-by-play. The tournament package for fans to watch is $7.95 and is good for all five matches.  Live stats will also be available at the Tournament Central page.

THE SERIES WITH THE JAGUARS

The series between the Pioneers and the Jaguars is even at 1-1 all-time. The Pioneers split with IUPUI this season, defeating the Jaguars 3-1 on Sept. 27 before falling 3-1 to them on Oct. 26.

PIONEER LEADERBOARD

Corrujedo leads the Pioneers with 296 kills (2.90 k/s), while senior Colleen King (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) is second with 269 kills, despite being done for the season with an injury. Basey is third on the team with 250 kills and is second on the team with 263 digs. The Pioneers boast the two best individual hitting percentages in the league with Muhle hitting .459 while Schmid comes in hitting .371. Muhle ranks among the nation’s best in hitting percentage, coming in at No. 6, while Schmid ranks No. 59. Acker is second in digs per set (4.02) in The Summit League. Denver currently ranks 18th in Division I in hitting percentage at a .273 clip and 59th in assists per set with 12.77.

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS

Behind 23 kills from Kaitlyn Hickey and 20 kills from Moriah Fair, the top-seeded IUPUI volleyball team won a thrilling five-set match over the fourth-seeded IPFW Mastodons Saturday evening in the semifinals of The Summit League Tournament. Fair leads the Jaguars with 421 kills (3.86 k/s), while Hickey is second on the team with 393 (3.89 k/s). Setter Alexis Meeks has 1,239 assists, while libero Beth Howard has 549 digs. The Jaguars are hitting .226 percentage on the year and are averaging 13.41 kills/set.

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