KANSAS CITY, MO -- Cassie Davis had a career-high 29 kills and  Molly Mirabelli totaled 14 kills with a .500 hitting percentage, but the Denver volleyball team fell 3-2 (25-18, 24-26, 21-25, 25-22, 14-16) to Kansas City on Saturday at Swinney Center.
The Pioneers offense was paced by Davis, who finished with 29 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .338. Mirabelli added 14 and Cadi Boyer chipped in with 14 as part of a Denver attack that had four players with double-digit kills. Defensively, DU had three players reach double figures in digs, including Gianna Bartalo's 24, 12 from Ryen Wilkens, and 10 more from Alayna Finucan. From the front row, Mirabelli contributed five blocks and MacKenzie Fidelak added five rejections.
Game Notes
» Denver had four players in double figures in kills.
» Denver had three players in double figures in digs.
» Molly Mirabelli was efficient in attacking situations in the match, accumulating 14 kills while hitting .500.
» Denver attackers combined to hit .331 in the match.
» Cassie Davis had a match-high three aces in the loss.
» Cassie Davis had a match-high 29 kills for Denver.
» Denver got a match-high 24 digs from Gianna Bartalo.
» Denver attackers were helped by a match-high 64 assists from Briley Decker.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Pioneers took control of the set-one lead at 3-2 and held the lead the rest of the way to win 25-18. Denver led by as many as seven points at 24-17 before closing out the set, collecting 16 kills with a .625 attack percentage while only notching one attack error along the way. got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked four UMKC attacks in the stanza.
SET 2 | Denver fell in the second set 26-24 to tie the match 1-1. The Pioneers fell in a back-and-forth set, losing in a stanza that featured five lead changes and was tied nine times. Neither team led by more than four points along the way.
SET 3 | A third-set loss put Denver down two sets to one. The Pioneers lost the set 25-21 despite a strong performance on the attacking end. Denver registered a .308 attack percentage with 18 kills in the set loss.
SET 4 | Denver broke their two set losing streak and forced a fifth set with a 25-22 victory in set number four. The Pioneers grabbed control of the set at 2-1 and held the lead the rest of the way. Denver led by as many as four points at 20-16 before finishing off the stanza. Denver also supplemented their offense with three aces in the set. Denver got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked five UMKC attacks in the stanza.
SET 5 | After dropping sets two and three, Denver won set four, knotting up the game at two sets apiece to force a fifth set, but couldn't complete the comeback, losing the set 16-14 and the match 3-2. The Pioneers dropped the fifth set in spite of a strong performance on the attacking side. Denver put together a .313 attack percentage with 13 kills in the set loss.
This article created using technology provided by Data Skrive.
