Photo by: Justin Edmonds
The DU women’s volleyball team dominated all three of their conference opponents in Louisiana over the weekend and raised its winning streak to five.
With the help of junior Holly Benson’s (Colorado Springs, Colo.) 10 digs and 12 kills, the Pioneers swept University of Louisiana-Monroe (0-21, 0-8 SBC) on Thursday night 3-0 (30-19, 30-24, 30-11). Benson, outside hitter, marked her third straight double-double in this game and senior middle blocker Kim Muller (Ballwin, Mo.) had 10 kills, while overall the Pioneers had 48 kills in the match. Sophomore setter Clare Maxwell (Western Springs, Ill.) continues to lead the team with the most assists, 37.
“The strength of our team this weekend, was not allowing our opponents to
score multiple points in a row, said Head Coach Beth Kuwata.B “We were able to limit their runs, in general by playing great defense.”
The Pioneers (13-9, 7-2 SBC) did not lose any momentum going into Friday night’s game against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (3-21, 2-7 SBC) Ragin’ Cajuns.
“The two unsung people this weekend are Holly Benson and Kacie Wikierak; they did a great job of passing and played solid defensively,” said Kuwata of the key players over the weekend.
Four Pioneer volleyball players had hitting percentages over .500 which allowed them a 3-0 (30-25, 30-15, 30-22) win. Muller recorded her season-best with a .625 hitting percentage, while middle block Kerry Porter (Western Springs, Ill.) hit .588 and two other Pioneers Alyta Baris (Belvidere, Ill.) and Maxwell hit .529 and .556 respectively.
“Overall we played pretty consistently throughout the weekend,” said Kuwata. “We kept the pressure on teams that we were playing and didn’t allow them to gain any confidence throughout.”
After two wins under their belts, on Sunday, the Pioneers faced their final opponent of the weekend, University of New Orleans (11-11, 5-4 SBC). The swept the UNO Privateers 3-0 (30-17, 30-27, 30-28).
“Our last match against UNO was our most difficult,” said Kuwata. “We have always had very competitive matches with them and they always bring their best game when they play us.”
There were 15 tie scores in this match and six overall lead changes. The Privateers were a tougher competitor and was the closest out of the Louisiana teams to beating the Pioneers.
“I think initially we served extremely tough and that kept them from
doing the things they wanted to do offensively.B As the match wore on
they began to play better but we matched their effort and continued to
play our brand of Denver volleyball,” said Kuwata of how they ultimately swept UNO.
Next up for the DU Pioneers are five more away games. This weekend they are heading to Alabama and Texas to play University of South Alabama, Troy and North Texas, all of which are Sun Belt Conference games.
“Last weekends travel was difficult, and we were extremely happy to come
away from that with three wins.B I think knowing that we can handle a
trip across Louisiana and win all three matches in three games gives us some
momentum going into this weekend,” said Kuwata.B “However, this weekend isn’t a cake
walk either.B We play Friday, Saturday and Monday, which is similar to
what we just did but with a plane flight in between.B This trip will
again test our focus and our ability to handle adversity.”
