Box Score USAFA- The University of Denver volleyball team fell to Air Force 3-1 in the opening match of the Thin Air Challenge on Thursday.

The loss drops the Pios to 6-4, while the Falcons improve to 3-7 overall.

Using their home court advantage early-on, the Falcons came out firing, taking an early 8-5 lead to open the match until Ari Winters answered with a kill to put the Pios on top at 10-9. Air Force was able to regain the lead and hold a consistent two-point advantage throughout. A 6-0 Falcon run to push their lead to 23-16 was the advantage they needed to secure the first set, as the Pioneers were unable to fend off consecutive set points dropping the set 25-18.

Five different Pios were able to cash in kills in set two but it wasn't enough to catch the Air Force offense, as the Falcons used a 4-0 run midway through to give themselves a seven point lead at 19-12. Fighting through three tie scores and two lead changes, the Pioneers came up short in the set, 25-19.

Amanda Green sparked the Denver offense in set three, adding two kills early on to help give DU an 10-8 lead. Green ended the night with a career-high and team-high 12 kills. Building off the momentum, DU went on a six-point tear with kills coming from Lorrin Poulter, Tina Boe and Lydia Bartalo. Holding a ten-point advantage late, the Pios cruised to a 25-14 third-set victory.

Showing some fire in the opening points of the set, Air Force stole five consecutive points from the Pioneers, propelling them to an 11-1 run. The deficit being too large to recover from, the Pioneers fell in the final set 25-12 and the match 3-1.

On the offensive side of the ball, Andrea Eddy served up a season-high and team-high 18 assists while Brianna Green added two blocks and Macy Carrabine locked in a team-high 17 digs.

Denver will be back in action tomorrow as they return home to face Santa Clara (6 p.m. MT) at Hamilton Gymnasium.

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