DENVER -- The University of Denver volleyball team welcomes North Dakota State and the University of North Dakota for a pair of league matches in Hamilton Gymnasium this week.

The Pioneers will take on the NDSU Bison on Thursday night at 6 p.m. MT. Denver is 20-8 all-time against the Bison but dropped the most recent matchup, 0-3, in Fargo on Oct. 11. DU will then welcome UND to Hamilton on Saturday at 11 a.m. MT for senior day. In their most recent meeting, the Pioneers swept the Fighting Hawks on Oct. 9.

THE LAST TIME OUT
• The Pioneers fell to South Dakota and South Dakota State in four sets on the road last week.

SIGNIFICANT SENIORS
•The Pioneers will celebrate the six member senior class on Saturday morning - Ava Reynolds, Izzy Rawlings, Alayna Finucan, Genevieve Lewis, Emma Mirabelli and Kate Perryman.
•The senior class is responsible for 741.5 points so far this season, 56% of the Pioneers total offense.

BALANCED ATTACK
•Denver has four players averaging 2.45 kills/set or more: Ava Reynolds, Genevieve Lewis, Jamia Johnson and Alicia Thibodeau.
•Reynolds, Lewis and Johnson are all on pace to exceed their kill totals from the 2024 season.
• Despite missing three matches due to injury, Thibodeau ranks fourth on the team with 126 kills.
• Reynolds is the first Pioneer to reach the 200 kill milestone this season against St. Thomas. Genevieve Lewis reached the 200 kill milestone for the first time in her career on 10/23 at South Dakota. 

REACHING THE SUMMIT
• Denver ranks in the top half in the Summit League in eight different statistical categories: opponent digs, opponent service aces, blocks, opponent kills, assists, opponent assists, hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage.
•The Pioneers lead the League in opponent digs (11.48 digs/set) and opponent service aces (1.16).
•Denver's 0.242 hitting percentage is the highest under third year head coach Megan Pendergast and good for second in the conference.

THE PENDERGAST ERA
•The Pioneers earned their first SEC win in 17 years and first P4 win under Pendergast on 9/13/25 with a 3-2 win over Arkansas.
•Three Pios earned All-Summit League honors in 2024: Cassie Davis, Molly Mirabelli and All-Freshman selection Jamia Johnson.
• In her first season at the helm, Pendergast led the Pioneers to a 12-4 record in conference play, earning a share of the Summit League regular season title, the first since 2020.
•DU was a perfect 9-0 in Hamilton Gymnasium, Denver's first perfect record at home since the 2015 season (18-0).
• Megan Pendergast was named the eighth head coach of the DU Volleyball program on June 12, 2023.
• Spent eight seasons as an assistant coach with UCLA (3), Oklahoma (1) and Tulsa (4).

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