GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota volleyball nearly earned a second-straight victory in five sets on Saturday afternoon inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, but a back-and-forth Summit League tilt with visiting Denver went the way of the Pioneers who won a fifth set that saw a dozen tied scores and six lead changes. The loss drops UND's overall record to 8-7 with a 1-3 mark in league play. Denver improves to 6-8 with their first league victory.
The Hawks used a 5-0 run to tie the opening set at 10-10 and then grabbed a 21-18 lead before middles Jarolin de los Santos Lugo and Vanessa Washington delivered kills and Katy Riviere recorded a service ace to give UND set one.
A 5-1 Denver run in set two put the Pioneers up 16-10, but the Hawks answered with a 6-1 tally to pull within 17-16 of the lead. However, DU closed on a 4-1 run to even the match. UND took advantage of Denver's struggles at the serving line to take the third set 25-23. The Hawks hit .104 to DU's clip of .314 in the frame but used eight Pioneer service errors to take the 2-1 match lead.
Denver grabbed an early lead in the fourth set, before Teagan Timperley assisted Riviere and junior Paige Barber on kills to tie the frame at 11-11. Timperley assisted Riviere moments later following a Denver service error to give the Hawks a 13-12 advantage. Santos Lugo and Riviere combined for a denial and a 15-14 Hawk lead, before the two sides traded 3-0 runs. Denver followed with a 5-1 run to lead 23-21, but a termination from Barber and an ace by Timperley evened the set at 23. An UND attack error and a kill from the Pioneers' Cassie Davis forced a fifth set.
The largest lead for either team in set five was just two points as Denver held a 7-5 advantage. UND battled to leads of 9-8, 10-9 and 12-11, but Denver used two kills, an ace and a block on the game's final play to edge the Hawks on Saturday.
The Hawks return to action on Thursday, October 10 for a 7 p.m. Summit League tilt against South Dakota from inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The action can be seen on the Summit League Network and Midco Sports and live stats for the contests will be available at FightingHawks.com.
Postgame Notes
- Jarolin de los Santos Lugo hit .524 with a career-high 13 kills to pace the attack for UND
- Santos Lugo added five block assists
- Freshman Vanessa Imoh delivered a career-high nine kills, including three in the final frame, at a .389 attack clip
- Junior Izzie McCormick produced 17 digs and sophomore Lauren Perugini followed with 11
- Norris led UND with 22 assists and crossed over 1,800 for her career and sits 191 back of becoming the fourth DI Hawk to reach 2,000
- Teagan Timperley followed with 11 assists and added two service aces to her team-leading total of 21
- Maddy Hornyak's lone ace moved her into fourth place on the program's DI career list
- UND recorded six aces which marks the first time this season that the Hawks have dropped a match after crossing over five aces
- The Hawks benefitted from 26 Denver service errors; the most ever by a UND opponent under Tupac
- The final two sets served as the 12th and 13th set losses for UND that were decided by three points or less
- The Hawks nearly absorbed 27 kills (.478) from DU's Cassie Davis
- Denver's 75 kills are the most by a UND opponent this season, while the squad's .304 attack clip is the third highest against the Hawks and the top attack in non-three set matches
How It Happened
Set 1: UND, 26-24
Set 2: DU, 25-20
Set 3: UND, 25-23
Set 4: DU, 25-23
Set 5: DU, 15-13
For more information on North Dakota volleyball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDvolleyball.
-- UND --
