DENVER - Denver jumped into first place in the Sun Belt's West Division
with a 3-1 (25-22, 29-27, 17-25, 25-19) victory over the University of
New Orleans on Thursday night at Hamilton Gym.
Emmy
Davidsmeyer had 22 kills to pace DU (14-14, 9-5 SBC) and lead a trio of
players in double figures. Rounding out the trio were Alexis Ninos and
Faimie Kingsley, who totaled 13 and 12 kills, respectively.
Kresson Vreeman distributed 42 assists while preseason SBC Defensive Player of the Year Kacie Wikierak posted 22 digs.
The
loss was the fifth in the last six matches for UNO (15-11, 8-6 SBC),
who could clinch a conference tournament invitation based on other
results around the league or a win in their next match on Saturday.
Lindsey Loyd tallied 18 kills with just three errors to pace the Privateers.
Maria Szivos joined Loyd in double-figures with 12 kills, though had
seven attack errors.
Nicky Valenti was the lone member of the
UNO squad with double digit digs as the River Ridge, La. native posted
10.
Cassidy Asebroek totaled 35 assists with
Hajnalka Molnar adding
another 17.
Things looked to be going right for the Privateers
who scored 4 of 5 points to start the match's opening set. DU responded
to knot the match at four and with UNO leading 14-12, went on a
set-changing 5-1 run.
During the Pioneers' stretch to gain
control of the set, DU's Kingsley had consecutive kills while the
Privateers' Szivos had consecutive errors as the home team gained
control and took the opening frame 25-22.
In the second set, the
Pioneers once more took advantage of UNO miscues. DU scored 4 of 5 to
open the set with three of the points coming on Privateer errors.
UNO
would fight back in a frame that saw 15 ties. At the end, a Loyd
service error cost UNO their first and only opportunity to win the set
as DU closed out the frame 29-27 victors.
A different Privateer
team came out of the locker room in the third set as UNO never trailed.
Five different Privateers connected on kills early in the frame as the
squad built a 7-3 lead.
The Pioneers would reach within two at
11-9 before UNO kicked it into gear, scoring 14 of 22 points going
forward to take a 25-17 victory.
Looking to force a fifth set,
the Privateer advantage quickly went away as DU jumped ahead 6-5 before
building a seven-point lead at 17-10. The two teams would trade points
the rest of the way with the Pioneers closing out the four-set win.
Next
for UNO is a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday at North Texas. The Privateers
defeated the Mean Green 3-0 at the Human Performance Center on Oct. 4.
