The Pioneer volleyball team added two wins after weekend play by rallying to defeat Troy University 3-1 on Friday and sweeping the University of Southern Alabama on Sunday in Hamilton Gymnasium.
These wins bring the Pioneers’ record to 19-4 overall and 8-2 in the SBC.
On Friday, DU got off to a sloppy start, downgrading their level of play to one that has not existed this season.
The Pioneers went down early in the first set to the underdog Trojans and were forced to try to play catch-up. Although Denver kept it close, Troy won the first set 23-25.
Though the Pioneer’s play was not much better in the second set, neither was Troy’s and DU pulled off a decisive win, 25-13.
Head coach Beth Kuwata was disappointed with the team’s start.
“We just made way too many unforced errors in the beginning, mistakes that every single person on our team had to make before we started going and we never really got into a rhythm,” she said.
Something clicked for the Pioneers during the break and they came back to the court for the third set much more coordinated and reminisced their more successful and recognizable style of play. DU won the third and fourth sets 25-16 and 25-16, respectively.
“Teams can prepare for us more,” said Kuwata. “In the beginning, there aren’t many adjustments you can make, and I think now match-ups are more important. We had a better match up in two, three and four and that helps,” she said.
“Am I concerned? Yes. We continue to talk about the same things, but I am happy with how we came back in and pretty much controlled the match in games two three and four.”
DU managed to pull off a straight-set win over USA on Sunday, but another slow start did not yield the type of victory the Pioneers believe they are capable of.
The Pioneers fought the Jaguars for every point in the first set but were slowed by lack of coordination, yielding a low attack percentage. This was due, in part, to the off- night of junior setter Clare Maxwell who had 28 assists. However, the Pioneers’ balanced team play pulled them through and they won the first, 25-23.
“I think I just started out having an off match,” Maxwell said. “I couldn’t really find my rhythm, but then, thankfully, my teammates helped me out and we still won the first two games.”
The second game wasn’t much better, but again DU found a way to win, 25-19.
In the third, the Pioneers finally got in a groove and pulled off a much more decisive 25-13 win to round out the sweep.
“It was a difficult match to find any kind of rhythm and tempo,” Kuwata said. “Clare started out horrible and I think she would agree. I think she worked herself into the match, but it made it difficult, honestly to find any kind of rhythm. The positive to it is that people around her were unaffected by it. Usually when you’re a setter, you’re in control of a lot of things that are happening and to be unaffected by it was as step in the right direction for the maturity of our team.”
Senior middle blocker Jacqueline Paul provided major contributions to the Pioneer squad this weekend while shifting roles to adjust to the absence of the injured middle blocker Kerry Porter. Paul had 18 kills over the two games.
“Getting more balls and being able to put them away has helped get us going just like anyone who gets a kill,” said Paul. “We did struggle. It wasn’t like our usual game that we play, but the good thing about it was that we won and we can ‘not play well’ and win, which is good. Even though its not necessarily what we practice every day, we figure out a way to win.”
“Since Kerry Porter has been hurt, her (Paul’s) role has been expanded,” Kuwata said. “For someone who hasn’t really played that much in her career here, she has kind of waited her turn and up to this point she has done a tremendous job with the opportunity that she has been given this year.”
Denver prepared Monday for North Texas, whom they will host tonight at 7 p.m. in Hamilton Gymnasium. This is the final home game for two weeks before they return home to close out the season.
“We start the second round playing everyone and North Texas is the beginning of that,” Kuwata said. “So, it will be playing people that have already seen us once and obviously its important to get off to a good start, especially since we’re going to be on the road so much in the next two weeks.”
