Pioneers Open Summit League Play with Two at Home - University of Denver Athletics

Thursday, September 23

Denver, Colo.

7 p.m. MT

University of Denver

Western Illinois

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Photo by: Justin Tafoya/Clarkson Creative

9/22/2021 9:32:00 AM | Volleyball

Watch Live Stats Tickets vs. Western Illinois Tickets vs. St. Thomas Digital Game Program

Denver faces Western Illinois and St. Thomas on Thursday and Saturday

Who: Denver (9-1) vs Western Illinois (1-10) and St. Thomas (1-9)
What: Summit League Play
Where: Hamilton Gymnasium (Denver, Colo.)
When: September 23 & 25 (7 PM MT start for Thursday, 1 PM MT for Saturday)
Links: Video | Live Stats

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Fans can purchase their season tickets or single-match tickets for the 2021 season by clicking right HERE.

Series History

This is the 17th meeting in the all-time series against Western Illinois.
The Pioneers are a perfect 16-0 against the Leathernecks.
Denver is 9-0 at home against WIU.
This is the first meeting in the series against St. Thomas.

Last Time Out

Pioneers are coming off a 2-0 week in after hosting the Mile High Invitational last weekend.
Denver knocked off Incarnate Word 3-0 to start the tournament on Friday.
Lydia Bartalo led the way for the Pioneers with a team-high 11 kills.
Lorrin Poulter added three aces in the victory.
The Crimson and Gold scored its second Power-5 victory of the year on Saturday, dropping Iowa in straight sets.
DU had a balanced attack with four players notching at least six kills.
Poulter tied a season high with 19 assists.

News & Notes

The Crimson and Gold rank in the top three in the Summit League in aces/set (1st, 1.88), assists/set (2nd, 11.61), blocks/set (3rd, 2.47) hitting percentage (1st, .273), kills/set (2nd, 13.0) opponent hitting percentage (1st, .132), total service aces (3rd, 62).
Bartalo ranks first in the Summit League in aces/set with a .64 average, also good for ninth in the NCAA.
Bartalo's 21 services aces rank 24th most in all of Division I.
Bartalo ranks eighth in the Summit League in kills/set with a 3.06 average.
Gianna Bartalo ranks sixth in the Summit League in digs/set with 3.48 average.
Tina Boe ranks first in the Summit League in hitting percentage with a .441 mark, good for 15th in all of Division I.
Boe also ranks fifth in blocks/set in the Summit League with a 1.21 average.
Bartalo was named Summit League Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 31, her second time winning the award in her career.
Denver has a home record of 101-9 (.918) since 2014, fifth best in all of the NCAA.
Hogan enters his sixth season in charge of the Pioneers.
Hogan has a career record of 119-31 (.793).
Hogan's .793 winning percentage is the highest by a head coach in program history.
Hogan picked up his third Summit League Coach of the Year award last season.
Entering 2021 season, Denver has the 19th best win percentage (.786) in all of Division I, with a record of 110-30 in the last five years.
Lydia Bartalo picked up her 800th career kill last season, becoming just the 15th player in program history to hit the mark.
The Crimson and Gold have won five of the last six Summit League Tournament Championships.

The Pioneers finished first in the Summit League with a 13-2 record and .866 winning percentage last year, including posting the first unbeaten road record in school history.
The Crimson & Gold went 14-3 last year to mark the program's eighth straight winning season.

Summit League Preseason Poll

Denver was picked second in the Summit League Preseason Poll and received four first-place votes by the coaches on Aug. 25.
Graduate student Ellie Anderson and Brianna Green were tabbed as "Players to Watch" by the league.

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