Junior outside hitter Alyssa Hampton was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week as the DU women’s volleyball team split a pair of SBC matches this past weekend at the Hamilton Gym.
After dropping a four-game match to the University of Middle Tennessee on Friday, the Pioneers rebounded to a hard-fought 3-1 win over Western Kentucky on Sunday afternoon.
Hampton registered 39 digs for the Pioneers on the weekend, helping her to move into fifth place in the conference for digs per game with 237 on the year.
In Friday’s match, in which the Pioneers dropped their SBC home opener, DU split the first two games, both of which were only decided by a mere two points, 29-31 and 34-32, respectively.
The final two games were not as close, as the Pioneers fell behind early and never could catch up, losing 13-30 and 17-30.
Leading the Pioneers against UMT was sophomore Clare Maxwell who recorded a team-high 47 assists in the contest, while fellow sophomore Holly Benson notched 14 kills, nine in the second game alone. Hampton notched 13 digs in the losing effort.
Sunday, however, was a different story for the Pioneers, as they won the last three games of the match to defeat Western Kentucky 3-1.
After trailing in the match 1-0 after the first game, the Pioneers dominated the second game, out hitting their opponent .405 to .229, and winning the game convincingly 30-22.
The Pioneers never looked back as they continued their strong play with nail-biting 30-28 and 31- 29 wins in the final two games to take the match.
Junior Kim Muller had an outstanding performance for the Pioneers as she recorded a team-high 19 kills and six blocks. Punishing on defense for DU was Hampton, whose 26 digs and two service aces were the most of anyone on either team.
The win was only DU’s fourth ever against Western Kentucky in SBC play. The Pioneers are now 2-2 in the SBC on the year and 9-6 overall.
Taking a break from SBC play, the Pioneers will look for their 10th win of the year as they take on in-state rival Colorado State University in Fort Collins Wednesday at 7 p.m.
