Box Score Oct. 3, 2017 Box Score
Pioneer Movement| Denver Ticket Office
DENVER- After losing the first set 25-22, the University of Denver women's volleyball team took the next three sets in dramatic fashion to win the match 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 27-25) Tuesday night in Omaha.
The Mavericks entered the match 3-0 in league play and on a three-match win streak, but Denver ended the streak to move to 12-4 overall and 3-1 in league play. Omaha is now 6-11 (3-1) with the loss.
The night was full of highlights for the Pioneers as several players recorded career-highs and milestones. Becca Latham had a career-high 17 kills and 38 attempts, with a hitting percentage of .421 (17-1-38) to lead the Pioneers. Ellie Anderson had a career-high night herself, with 23 assists in the match. Cassidy Rooke moved into third in school history in digs with her team-high 21 digs, and Piyusha Boteju recorded a double-double, her sixth of the season, with 13 digs and 11 assists. Cassie Baird had two service aces to lead the visitors, and had 10 digs on the night, which put her over 500 digs in her career. Kayla Principato had seven total blocks, all assisted, to lead the team in that category, but recorded the 1000th point in her career in the match.
As a team, Denver hit .151 with 50 kills (50-25-166), tying a season-high in attacks. They had 45 assists, a season-high 84 digs, six service aces and 10 total blocks.
"This wasn't our best volleyball, but I'm extremely proud of the way our team fought back in every set," said head coach Tom Hogan. "We have been on the road for a week, and our players are in the middle of midterm exams, and despite all of this, our team found a way to win tonight."
Set One: It was back-and-forth for the first 10 points of the match, with five ties, before Omaha started to pull away. The Maverick lead grew to 17-13, but the Pioneers responded and cut it down to one at 17-16. Denver got within one point several times throughout the end of the set, the latest at 21-20, but was unable to get the tying point. Omaha went ahead 24-20, and Denver fought off two set points with kills from Lydia Bartalo and Baird. However, out of the Omaha timeout, the Mavericks got the final point off of a kill to take the set, 25-22. The Pioneers hit .171 behind 10 kills. Baird led the opening set with three kills, Rooke had seven digs and Anderson had four assists. Tina Boe and Principato combined for the lone block in the set for the Pioneers.
Set Two: There were 12 ties and five lead changes in the set, with eight of those ties occurring in the first 20 points of the set. Four Omaha service errors helped keep Denver in the set, including two resulting in the Pioneers going on a 4-0 run and taking the 15-13 lead. Denver held a two-point advantage for much of the set after that point until Omaha evened the set at 20. After ties at 21 and 22, Latham had three straight kills for the Pioneers to close out the set at 25-23 and even the match at one. Denver hit .262 in the set with a match-high 16 kills. Latham ended up with six kills in the set, while Anderson added eight assists and Rooke had seven digs. Principato and Willis had the lone assisted block in the set for DU.
Set Three: The comeback kids struck again, as the Pioneers stormed back to take the set 25-23. Omaha scored the first four points of the set, and the lead would grow to 9-3 before Denver called a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Pioneers chipped away at the lead and cut it down to four at 13-9, before the lead would get back up to six at 17-11. After another Denver timeout, the lead stretched to 19-12, but Denver answered with a 5-1 run to cut lead to 20-17, and then cut it down to one at 22-21 which forced an Omaha timeout. The Pioneers then took a 23-22 lead and after a tie at 23, scored the last two points of the set to take the set, 25-23. After Denver was down seven points at 19-12, they closed on a 13-4 run. Latham and Emma Willis each had three kills in the frame, with Willis hitting a perfect 1.000. Baird had two service aces to lead in the category. Boe and Rooke also recorded aces, the first ace of the season for Boe. Rooke had seven more digs in the frame and Anderson had four assists. The Pioneers had five total team blocks in the third set, with Principato assisting on three of them. Willis and Principato combined on two blocks, while Principato and Boe had one and Boe and Latham had another. Baird also recorded a solo block in the set. DU hit .104 in the set with 11 kills.
Set Four: Once again, Denver fell behind early as Omaha jumped out to early 7-4 lead and would grow the lead to 10-4. Out of a Denver timeout, the Pioneers went on a 4-0 run to make it 10-8 and had another 3-0 run to tie the set at 12. Omaha then went ahead 15-12, to which Denver answered with a 4-1 run to tie the set again at 16. After another tie at 18, the Pioneers went on a 6-0 run that took a tied set at 18 to 23-18 Denver. The Pioneers had match point at 24-21, but the Mavericks fought back to tie the set at 24, and would take a 25-24 lead on the following point. Facing set point themselves, Latham got her 17th kill of the match to tie the set at 25. A Boteju service ace and Willis and Principato block gave the Pioneers the needed two points to take the set 27-25 and the match. Latham finished with seven of the team's 13 kills in the set, while Anderson assisted on seven points and Macy Carrabine had six digs and a service ace in the set. Like in set three, Willis and Principato paired up on two assisted blocks and Boe and Latham teamed up on one. The Pioneers closed the match only hitting .073 in the final set that had nine ties and four lead changes.
"We now turn our sights to Oral Roberts as we look to complete our two weeks on the road."
UP NEXT: Denver closes out a four-match road trip against Oral Roberts on Saturday, with first serve set for 6 p.m. MT. Oral Roberts lost to South Dakota on Tuesday night, 3-1, and is now 7-10 overall and 4-1 in the Summit League.
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