It took six total sets this weekend for the lady Pios volleyball squad to get two wins and improve to 6-1 in the Summit League. The Lady Pios won in straight sets, first against the Omaha Mavericks on Friday, and also on Sunday against the Western Illinois Leathernecks.
“I think it was a bounce-back for us, even though we beat Nebraska Omaha in three [sets] on Friday night,” head coach Jesse Mahoney said. “We didn’t play very crisply. That was our challenge [Sunday], to play good crisp volleyball.”
The team sits at second in the league, behind South Dakota, and at 12-8 overall.
Senior Colleen King led the charge on Friday, picking up double digit kills and assists (12 each) against Omaha, while freshmen Nola Basey and Moni Corrujedo each tallied eight kills. Basey also added 15 digs, tying with junior Kate Acker for the team-high dig count.
Though each set was relatively close, it only took the Pioneers three sets to get the win against Omaha, winning 25-23, 25-21 and 25-19.
Sunday’s match was a different story. The Pioneers cruised to another three set victory, this time with relative ease, winning 25-13, 25-9 and 25-19 to drop Western Illinois to 9-13 overall and 3-4 in the Summit League.
Senior Brea Muhle led the team on the offensive end Sunday with 11 kills on a .714 hitting percentage. King contributed seven kills and 15 assists.
Sophomore Tori Moons led the team in assists both nights, with 23 on Friday and 18 on Sunday versus the Leathernecks.
Moons continues to impress, as she spent last year on the DU club volleyball team before moving up to the varsity squad.
“We played at a very high level, very low air, played great defense had a lot of energy, we spread the ball around to all of our attackers. Western Illinois just didn’t have an answer for us,” Mahoney said. “I’m proud of the team. They understand where we are in the season, what we’re working towards, and that every opportunity on the floor is an opportunity to get better and we did that today.”
Upcoming games include Fort Wayne on Friday and IUPUI on Saturday, both of which the Pioneers defeated earlier in the year. Both of teams have sub-.500 overall records.
