The women’s volleyball team had a clean sweep this weekend, nabbing two wins in the Sun Belt Conference over rivals South Alabama and New Orleans. The two victories helped the Pioneers to reach an even conference record, (6-6, 2-2 Sun Belt).
Friday night’s match was a battle of momentum as the Pioneers defeated South Alabama at Hamilton Gymnasium in a 3-1 score, (25-30, 30-15, 30-28, 30-26). This conference win was the first of the season at home for the Pioneers.
Building on a stellar 2000 season, senior outside hitter Kellie Savage dominated the match with 17 kills. Assisting her in these slams was senior setter Clarice Golesh-Burch who added a double-double with 10 digs and a match-high 49 assists. Sophomore outside hitter Jenn Karas and senior middle blocker Kristin Savage both shined with 12 and 10 kills, respectively.
While USA started the first game with few mistakes, Denver pulled together to show its strength as a team by making even fewer errors in the second game. As the Pioneers posted 17 kills with a .342 team hitting percentage, the Jaguars were restricted to only a .059 hitting percentage.
Denver released even more steam in the third set with a 30-28 win. Ready to continue their fire, the Pioneers turned to Kristin Savage to end the two-hour battle with a slam in the middle.
The Pioneers were not about to lose their momentum on Sunday’s match against New Orleans. Denver defended their home territory with a 3-1 win over the Privateers, (30-26, 30-27, 33-35, 30-20). Karas stepped up to the plate again with a career-high 19 kills and another match high 19 digs. Kellie Savage joined her teammate in the double digits with 20 kills. Golesh-Burch reached a season-high 61 assists while helping the team to reach a team hitting percentage of .236, the third best of the 2001 season.
The first two games showed a point-for-point battle between the teams with the Pioneers grabbing a 2-0 lead. UNO fought back with five straight points in the third game, letting Denver fall to a 33-35 loss. After Denver found themselves in the hole 4-9 in the fourth game, they took a much-needed time-out to re-group and score 13 of the next 17 points with a 17-13 lead. The match was ended with a service ace from sophomore right-side hitter Olympia Hughes.
The Pioneers hit the road this Friday to take on non-conference rival, the University of Colorado. This match was originally scheduled for an earlier date but was postponed because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The event will take place at 7 p.m. at the Coors Events Center in Boulder.
