DENVER- The No. 2 seed Denver Pioneers women's volleyball team is set to face the No. 4 seed Omaha Mavericks in the championship match of the 2019 Summit League Tournament presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare on Sunday at 2 p.m. MT in Hamilton Gymnasium. 

Denver defeated No. 3 seed Purdue Fort Wayne 3-1 on Saturday to advance to its seventh consecutive championship match, while the Mavericks advanced to the final following their defeat of top-seeded South Dakota on Saturday.

SEMIFINAL WIN

• Four Pios recorded double-digit kill performances in the Pioneers' win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday.  Junior outside hitter Lydia Bartalo led Denver with 19 kills through four sets
• Freshman setter Lorrin Poulter notched a career-high 28 assists in the match
• As a team, Denver had an attack percentage of .313 and totaled seven service aces

 DENVER IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

• This marks Denver's seventh consecutive appearance in the Summit League championship match 
• During their last appearance in 2018, the No. 1 seed Pioneers fell to the No. 2 seed South Dakota Coyotes in the championship, 3-2
• The last time Denver was ranked as the No. 2 seed was back in 2013
• The Pioneers have gone 6-1 in tournament play under head coach Tom Hogan
• Overall the Pioneers are 11-2 in the Summit League tournament, securing four championships along the way (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)

DOMINANT AT HOME

• The Pioneers are dominant at home, sitting at 13-1 on the season in Hamilton Gymnasium, dropping just one game at home to South Dakota earlier this season
• The Pioneers are 58-4 at home with Hogan at the helm

PIOS IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE

• Bartalo leads the Summit League in aces per set
• Junior middle blocker Tina Boe ranks second in the Summit League in attack percentage at .357
• Freshman middle blocker Brianna Green ranks third in the Summit League in blocks per set averaging 1.22
• Denver ranks first in two categories as a team, leading the Summit League in aces per set (1.73)

DENVER LEADERS

• Bartalo leads the Denver offense with 342 kills through 29 matches to comliment a team-best 3.26 kills per set
• B. Green leads the Pioneers in blocks with 116. The freshman averages a team-high 1.23 blocks per set
• Junior libero Macy Carrabine leads the DU defense with 384 digs, averaging 3.80 per set
• Junior setter Ellie Anderson enters the tournament with a team-high 546 assists, setting up an average of 5.30 per set. Anderson also has a team-best ten double-doubles on the year

 SCOUTING NO.4 OMAHA

• The Mavericks enter Sunday's matchup with a 19-13 overall record after finishing 10-6 in conference action
• Offensively they are led by Isabella Sade who has 436 kills and averages 3.57 kills per set. Sade recorded 17 kills in Omaha's win over South Dakota on Friday
• Defensively, Anna Blaschko leads the way with 96 total blocks on the year, while Claire Mountjoy averages a team-best 4.42 digs per set. As a team, they average 13.5 kills per set and 14.3 digs per set.

LAST MATCHUP

• This will be the third matchup between Denver and Omaha in 2019
• The Pioneers took the first match 3-2 (19-25, 28-26, 24-26, 25-19, 15-10) and swept the Mavericks in their last meeting on November 15^th (28-26, 25-19, 25-20)
• The Pios have not dropped a match to Omaha since 2015 as they lead the series, 14-1

HISTORY IN THE TOURNAMENT

• This will be the second Summit League championship meeting between the two teams
• Denver topped the Mavericks in the 2015 championship match 3-2 (26-28, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 15-10)

SHOP PIONEERS:
Get dressed for Game Day! Get your Pioneers gear at ShopPioneers.com, the official online store of University of Denver Athletics.
 
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