After claiming victory in all three of their matches at the Husker Invitational earlier in September, the Crimson and Gold returned to Hamilton Gymnasium for their first home game on Thursday against Air Force, winning in three straight sets to beat the Falcons.
The first set was tight with a lot of back and forth action and ended in Denver winning 25-23. Freshman defensive specialist Emerson Werger and graduate student outside hitter Cassie Davis each had an ace in the set. The set was close due to the high number of attacks by the Falcons, but Denver remained confident and had fewer errors than Air Force.
Even though Denver had fewer total attacks, they had a higher attack percentage of 0.212 compared to that of Air Force of 0.15. DU was able to win the set due to their defensive performance, which continued to block the attacks from the Falcons.
The similarity between both teams was evident as the set was tied 12 times. DU won the first set with five more blocks and one more dig than the Falcons, a key stat that led to the good start.
DU began the second set with a Falcons’ challenge and a replayed point. Throughout the set, DU had long point streaks when both Werger and junior libero Alyana Finucan. Denver had four aces in the second set by Werger, Finucan and freshman defensive specialist RaeAnna Knapp, who served two of the four aces.
Denver also challenged an out call that ended up being overturned and helped keep a multiple-point lead. In the second set, the Crimson and Gold led by four blocks, six kills and four aces and took a 25-9 victory.
In the third set, both graduate middle blocker Molly Mirabelli and Davis had seven kills each, which played a key role in Denver’s success. The score was tied 15 times in the third set and the lead changed twice.
Denver had two more errors than Air Force, while DU had an attack percentage of 0.438 compared to 0.304 by the Falcons. DU won the third set with a tight score of 26-24 and edged the Falcons by nine kills in the final set.
The kill leaders in the contest were Mirabelli and Davis, who each had 12 kills. Sophomore setter Briley Decker had the most assists with 35 for the match. Knapp and Werger had the most aces with two each. Finucan was the leader in digs with 14 and Mirabelli led in both points and blocks with 17 points and eight blocks.
Denver will begin Summit League play on Sept. 26 against South Dakota in Hamilton Gymnasium and will play a total of eight home games this year during it’s 16-game league slate.
