Photo by: Justin Edmonds
The Pioneers won both of their games this weekend after losing a non-conference match 0-3 (28-30, 28-30, 30-32) to No. 20-ranked Colorado State University last Tuesday.
“For Tuesday’s game against Colorado State we had been on the road for the last eight matches, so we only prepared one day,” said Head Coach Beth Kuwata. “When playing a top-20 team, we maybe need more time to prepare.”
DU volleyball defeated both conference opponents, University of New Orleans and University of Louisiana-Lafayette, for the second time this season. The first time the Pioneers took on each team they swept both teams, but this weekend DU beat UNO 3-1 (31-33, 30-26, 31-29, 30-26) and swept ULL 3-0 (30-14, 30-23, 32-30). These games improve the Pioneer’s record to 19-11, SBC 13-3 and they are currently leading the west division of the Sun Belt Conference.
“This time we played them there was a lot more at stake,” said Kuwata of how playing these two teams for the second time was harder. “They can prepare more now because they have seen us play before and know parts of our strategy.”
Not only was Sunday’s game an exciting victory for the Pioneers because of the back-and-fort scores of the third game in the match against the Ragin’ Cajuns, it was also senior day for the three seniors on our team.
The three senior players are Alyta Baris, Alyssa Hampton and Kim Muller.
“It will be tough to fill the senios’ shoes, but we have so much talent on our team,” said junior Holly Benson on the loss of three key players for the next season.
However, the seniors are not gone just yet, the volleyball team still has to play one more conference game at home in Hamilton Gymnasium on Saturday against North Texas at 7 p.m.
The Pioneers then compete in the Sun Belt Conference tournament, which Denver is hosting for the first time in six years. The tournament will be from Thursday Nov. 15 through Saturday Nov. 17. If the Pioneers win the SBC tournament they will automatically receive a bid to the NCAA Division I championships.
