Sunday, November 8
Denver 3, ULM 0
DENVER - The University of Denver volleyball team (16-14, 11-5 SBC) closed out its three-match Sun Belt Conference weekend with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-20) sweep of the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (3-27, 0-15 SBC) on Sunday afternoon in Hamilton Gymnasium. Denver finished the week 3-0.
"We struggled a little bit with our ball handling today but I am really proud of the performance we got out of Jordan today," said head coach Beth Kuwata. "She stepped up for us and really gave us a presence on the left side of the net."
Sophomore Jordan Raines (Coppell, Texas) led the Pioneers with 13 kills and a .550 hitting percentage, while senior Emmy Davidsmeyer (Colorado Springs, Colo.) added 12 kills, a .524 attack percentage and three blocks. Playing in her final home match for the Pioneers, Davidsmeyer moved up to eighth on the all-time kills list in the DU record books with a career mark of 1,075 kills and currently ranks first with a .326 career-hitting percentage.
Also playing in her final home match for Denver was senior Alexis Ninos (Cypress, Texas), who finished the day with five kills, 11 digs and three blocks. Setter Kresson Vreeman (Raymond, Minn.) finished with 38 assists, while libero Kacie Wikierak (Crystal Lake, Ill.) added 12 digs.
Mari O'Neal led the way for the Warhawks with nine kills and five blocks, while Michelle Messing added six kills and nine digs.
The first set proved to be a closely contested match between both teams throughout much of the action. With the score tied 15-15, the Pioneers strung together an impressive 11-2 run to close out the set. Sparked by a service ace from Wikierak and a kill from Davidsmeyer, the Pioneers' rally included solid serves from Ninos and kills from Raines and Vreeman.
The action continued to remain tight in the second set as the Pioneers were unable to pull ahead by more than two points until the Pioneers went on a four-point rally to take a 19-13 lead and force the Warhawks to call a time out. Coming out of the break, both teams exchanged three points apiece before Ninos sparked a three-point rally for the Pioneers to give them a 24-16 advantage.
After giving up two points to the Warhawks on service miscues, the Warhawks grabbed their final point of the match off a kill from O'Neal before the Pioneers closed out the set on a kill by Davidsmeyer to take a 2-0 advantage into the locker room.
Coming out of the intermission, the Pioneers sealed the match with a 25-20 win in the third set as Ninos and Davidsmeyer led the Pioneer offense with four kills apiece, while Raines and sophomore Alyssa Bonelli (Superior, Colo.) added three and two kills, respectively.
Saturday, November 7
FIU 3, Middle Tennessee 1
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The FIU volleyball team clinched the Sun Belt Conference regular season title on Saturday night at Alumni Memorial Gym with a 3-1 (26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 26-24) victory over Middle Tennessee. The Panthers are winners of 19 straight matches and improve to 26-2 (16-0 SBC) on the season with the win.
The squads battled to a 12-12 tie in the first set before the Blue Raiders pulled ahead, 17-14. Following an FIU timeout, MTSU got another point before the Panthers tallied one of their own to make it 18-15. Senior Olga Vergun took a pass from junior Natalia Valentin and slammed home a kill to pull FIU within two, but a Panther hitting error put the gap back to three at 19-16.
FIU then recorded four of the next five points to knot the score at 20-20 and force a Blue Raider timeout. After the break, MTSU came through with a pair of points to go ahead by two and a Rosa kill was off-set by a Panther service error as the Blue Raiders went ahead, 23-21, but FIU would not go away as Rosa recorded a kill and a service ace to tie the score at 23-23.
The Blue Raiders tallied a point to reach set-point position at 24-23 and FIU called a timeout. Following the break, Bjelica slammed home a kill and with the score tied at 24-24, Rosa came through the middle for a kill to put FIU ahead, 25-24. An MTSU attack error ended the set and the Panthers came away with a 26-24 first-set victory to go ahead, 1-0, for the match.
The second set saw the same intensity as the first, as both teams fought to numerous ties and lead changes. With the score knotted at 16-16, FIU tallied four straight points to go ahead 20-16. MTSU retaliated with a pair of points but Vergun and Rosa each scored on tips over the net to pull ahead, 22-18.
Following a Blue Raider timeout, MTSU tallied two points to come within two at 22-20 but Rosa slammed home a kill from the left side to put FIU up by three at 23-20. A Blue Raider kill once again brought them within two at 23-21 but Rosa struck from the right side this time to put FIU in set-point position at 24-21. MTSU gained one more point but Bjelica tallied a kill to give FIU a 25-22 second-set win and a 2-0 lead for the match.
Set three matched the competitiveness of the first two stanzas and with the score tied at 17-17 MTSU went ahead, 18-17, to force an FIU timeout. Out of the break, Bjelica came through the middle for a kill to knot the score at 18-18 before a Blue Raider attack error and an MTSU violation put the Panthers on top by two at 20-18.
The Blue Raiders then scored five consecutive points to take the lead at 23-20. The Panthers countered with two hard kills to come within one at 23-22, but MTSU retaliated with a pair of points to take a 25-22 set win.
Up 2-1 for the match, FIU held a 17-15 lead in the fourth set. MTSU tallied a point but Rosa retaliated with a kill. The Blue Raiders then recorded two points to knot the score at 18-18 before Bjelica connected from the right side and Vergun and senior Ines Medved combined for a block to give the Panthers a two-point advantage at 20-18.
After an MTSU timeout, Vergun and Medved teamed up again for a stop at the net to put the Panthers on top, 21-18. The Blue Raiders gained a point but Bjelica retaliated with a kill to make the score, 22-19. MTSU got another tally before Vergun recorded a score to put the score at 23-20.
The Blue Raiders recorded a pair of points to force a Panther timeout and out of the break, MTSU tied the score at 23-23. Rosa slammed home a kill from the left side to put FIU in match-point position but MTSU came back with a kill to tie the score at 24-24. A pair of Blue Raider service errors then gave the Panthers a 26-24 set victory and a 3-1 win.
Three Panthers reached double digits in kills on the night, as Rosa recorded 21 kills and Vergun and Bjelica added 18 and 14 kills, respectively. Valentin tallied 52 assists while Vergun led the FIU defense with six blocks. Lakovic had another outstanding night as she tallied four kills compared to zero errors for a hitting percentage of .500. She also added a pair of block assists.
New Orleans 3, North Texas 1
DENTON, Texas - What was a near certainty just three weeks ago finally come to fruition on Saturday afternoon as the University of New Orleans earned an invitation to the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-14, 25-20) victory over North Texas on Saturday afternoon.
Lindsey Loyd had 21 kills with just a single error as UNO (16-11, 9-6 SBC) hit .267 for the match. Maria Szivos bounced back from consecutive outings where she struggled offensively to hit down 15 kills with just two errors.
Both Loyd and Szivos earned double-doubles on the night with the duo combining for 23 digs over four sets. Cassidy Asebroek distributed 45 assists for the Privateers with Nicky Valenti topping the team in digs with 14.
Amy Huddleston matched Loyd with 21 kills for a NT (11-18, 7-7 SBC) that is fighting for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament. Huddleston was the lone player in double figure kills for a Mean Green team that hit .146 for the match.
Kayla Saey passed 42 balls into kills with Jessica Green garnering match-high digs with 15. NT totaled just three blocks against the Privateer attack.
In the opening set, UNO was never truly threatened. The squad started out with 3-0 lead on Asebroek's serve and with a 10-9 lead, scored 9 of 11 points to build up an advantage that NT could not recover from.
The tables were turned in the second set as the Mean Green scored 5 of 6 points to open the frame. The Privateers rallied to tie the score at nine points after a 6-2 rally that featured six NT errors.
UNO would fall behind again at 22-17 after a 5-0 Mean Green run, only to rally to knot the score at 23. The teams would knot up again at 24 before a Brittani Youman kill coupled with an Asebroek ball-handling error tied the set score at one entering the break.
Head coach Jozsef Forman got his squad focused during the intermission and with the Privateers narrowly ahead, watched his team score 17 of 23 points to take a third set victory.
The fourth stanza was slightly different as the Mean Green controlled the frame until a 17-15 advantage. At that point, a Vesna Jelic ace and a Kaley Hubbard kill were part of a 4-0 run that put the Privateers ahead until the last point.
WKU 3, Florida Atlantic 1
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - On senior day, the Lady Toppers were able to hold off a late FAU rally and defeat the Owls in four sets (25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20) in E.A. Diddle Arena. With the win, the Lady Toppers improved to 22-8 this season and 11-4 in the Sun Belt Conference while FAU fell to 6-19 this season and 4-12 in the SBC.
In set one, the Lady Toppers got off to a fast start scoring the first two points off a kill by senior Brittany Bowen and an attack error by FAU. Up 3-2, WKU extended their lead to four after scoring the next four points of the set and never gave up their lead outscoring the Owls
19-15 to win the set. Up 24-17, WKU won the set after an ace by senior Abbie Siljendahl. In the set, WKU hit .241 after recording 14 kills and and seven errors. The team also recorded four aces in the set and seven blocks.
WKU fell behind 2-0 to start set two but tied things up after a kill by Bowen and a kill by junior Emily Teegarden. After FAU battled back to tie things up at 16, the Lady Toppers fell behind for the first time of the day at 17-16. Down 22-19, the Lady Toppers then went on to score six consecutive points and shutout the Owls the rest of the way winning the set after an attack error by FAU. The Lady Toppers hit .276 in the set after posting 12 kills.
Tied at three in set three, FAU took their first lead of the set after a kill by Christina Wallinger. From there, WKU could never regain the lead and the Owls won set three after the Lady Toppers rallied back to within one point. The Lady Toppers posted their worst hitting percentage of the day in the set finishing with a .098 percentage after committing 11 errors and tallying 15 kills.
In set four, it looked like the Owls might force a fifth set after gaining the lead and holding on to it through 12 points. After WKU was able to tie the set up at 12 after an ace by Lindsey Gould, the Lady Toppers regained the lead on the next play following a kill by freshman Jordyn Skinner. Up 13-12, the Lady Toppers were able to hold off a late rally by FAU and won the match after an attack error by the Owls. In the set, WKU hit .306 after racking up 15 kills.
To end the match, the Lady Toppers posted a .226 hitting percentage after recording 56 kills, 54 assists, ten aces, 52 digs and 21 blocks.
WKU was led by Teegarden and sophomore Tiffany Elmore on offense.
Teegarden finished the day with a match-high 15 kills and a .385 hitting percentage while Elmore posted ten kills and a match-high .471 hitting percentage. The team was led by sophomore Lauren Stuckel in assists with 42 and Skinner in digs with 14. In blocks, Bowen recorded four solo blocks and three block assists to lead the team.
During senior day, the Lady Toppers recognized four seniors. Seniors Bowen, Lindsey Gould, Siljendahl and Aquila Orr all played their final match at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Denver 3, Louisiana-Lafayette 0
DENVER - Seniors Emmy Davidsmeyer (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Clare Maxwell (Western Springs, Ill.) and Alexis Ninos (Cypress, Texas) were honored on Senior Night as the University of Denver volleyball team (15-14, 10-5 SBC) defeated Louisiana-Lafayette (8-22, 2-13 SBC) in three sets (25-15, 26-24, 25-11) on Saturday evening in Hamilton Gymnasium.
The Pioneers, who are in first place in the Sun Belt West Division standings, were led by Davidsmeyer's 14 kills. Jordan Raines (Coppell, Texas) tacked on 12 kills, while junior Kresson Vreeman (Raymond, Minn.) had 32 assists and junior Kacie Wikierak (Crystal Lake, Ill.) had 17 digs.
"Our goal is to continually get better and I think we did that tonight," said head coach Beth Kuwata. "Plus, it's always nice to get our seniors a victory on Senior Night."
Friday, November 6
FIU 3, WKU 1
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The FIU volleyball team defeated Sun Belt Conference rival, 3-1, on Friday night at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky., as the Panthers won their 18th straight victory to improve to 25-2 (15-0 SBC) on the season.
The first set saw both teams come out ready to play as the squads battled back and forth to begin the match. WKU took a 16-10 lead to force an FIU timeout, but freshman Jovana Bjelica came through with a kill to make it 16-11 out of the break. A WKU kill and a Panther violation put the score at 18-11, but a Hilltopper service error brought FIU within six at 18-12.
A WKU kill made the score 19-12 before a Hilltopper error and a kill from senior Yarimar Rosa put the score at 19-14. WKU tallied three of next five points and with the score at 22-16, a Hilltopper hitting error and a kill from Rosa put the Panthers within four at 22-18.
Following a timeout, WKU recorded a kill but senior Olga Vergun retaliated with a kill of her own to make it 23-19. A Hilltopper kill put WKU in set-point position and a WKU service error put the score at 24-20, but a Panther hitting error gave the Hilltoppers a 25-20 set-win to go ahead 1-0 for the match.
Down 1-0 for the match for just the fourth time this season, FIU came out strong in the second set, tallying the first four points and later taking a 15-9 lead. The Panthers increased their lead to seven at 19-12 but the Hilltoppers would not go away, getting within three at 20-17.
A pair of kills from Rosa put the score at 22-17 but WKU recorded three straight points to make it 22-20. A Hilltopper hitting error gave the Panthers a three-point advantage before WKU answered with a kill to make it a two-point match at 23-21, but FIU closed out the set with two consecutive points to tie the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 second-set victory.
Through two sets of action, FIU hit at a clip of .269 while WKU notched a hitting percentage of .329. Rosa led all scorers with 11 kills while junior Natalia Valentin recorded 23 assists and freshman Chanel Araujo was credited with six digs.
Set three saw the Panthers jump out to a quick 9-1 lead but once again the Hilltoppers battled back. With FIU holding an 18-14 advantage, a Hilltopper hitting error put the score at 19-14 but WKU recorded two points to come within three at 19-16. The squads then traded service errors before the Hilltoppers tallied a point to make it a two-point game at 20-18.
Following an FIU timeout, WKU tallied a point to make it 20-19 before Rosa slammed home a kill to make it 21-19. The Hilltoppers retaliated with a kill but Rosa struck again from the left side to give FIU a 22-20 advantage. The teams then traded errors and with the score at 23-21, a WKU service error put FIU in set-point position. Bjelica came through with a kill to give FIU a 25-21 set win to go ahead 2-1 for the match.
The fourth set saw numerous ties before FIU took a 15-12 lead. WKU fought back to within one at 18-17 and then tied the match again at 18-18. The Panthers then recorded four straight points to go ahead, 22-18, but the Hilltoppers would not go away, tallying two points out of a timeout to put the score at 22-20.
A block by Valentin and Lakovic put FIU on top, 23-20, but once again WKU came back with a point to make it 23-21 and a Panther attack error put the score at 23-22. Rosa then came through with a kill from the right side to put FIU in match-point position at 24-22 before the Hilltoppers answered with a kill to make it 24-23. Bjelica then slammed home a kill from the right side to give the Panthers a 25-23 set win and a 3-1 match victory.
Rosa recorded a double-double with 20 kills and 14 digs, both team-best marks, while Bjelica tallied 19 kills against just two errors for an attack percentage of .486. Sophomore Andrea Lakovic had a stellar outing on both sides of the net, notching seven kills against a single error for a hitting percentage of .429 and recorded three solo blocks and three block assists. Bjelica added a team-high four blocks.
Valentin recorded 35 assists and FIU's lone service aces of the evening while freshman Chanel Araujo added 10 digs.
Arkansas State 3, UALR 1
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Arkansas State Red Wolves (20-10, 10-6) topped in-state Sun Belt Conference rival UALR (14-13, 8-8) for the second time this season, winning in four sets (25-13, 25-17, 23-25, 25-20) Friday night in Little Rock.
"I thought we came out on fire," said ASU head coach Justin Ingram.
"We were hitting .424 and .417 in the first couple of sets, and that is pretty hard to do offensively. (Laura) Bennett had 62 assists and did a great job distributing our offense tonight. We knew UALR was going to fight hard, but we had to sustain that high level of play throughout the match. We did just that, and overall our offense was tremendous tonight."
ASU rolled past UALR 25-13 in the first set and took set two 25-17. The Trojans fired back to win the third set 25-23 on three consecutive kills.
The Red Wolves bounced back in set four, jumping out to an early 8-3 lead before UALR rallied to tie the set 18-18. ASU scored four consecutive points on two kills from sophomore Cayla Fielder and two Trojan attacking errors, and the Red Wolves went on to take the match with a 25-20 win.
Freshman Brittany Hoag led the team with a career-high 23 kills, while Fielder added 17 and a .519 hitting percentage on the night. Junior setter Laura Bennett notched a career-high 62 assists in the match, averaging 15.5 assists per set.
Senior libero Heather Bowman led the defensive effort with 26 digs, while sophomore Charlyn Ursell and freshman Kelsie Hodges each put up two blocks.
North Texas 3, ULM 0
DENTON, Texas - The North Texas volleyball team took a determined step toward a Sun Belt Conference Tournament berth with a sweep of ULM on Friday (25-26, 25-11, 25-22).
Roxana Casvean slammed home a match-high 16 kills for the Mean Green (11-17, 7-7 Sun Belt) on .652 hitting. That attack percentage is easily a career-high for Casvean, and the highest by a North Texas player since Amy Huddleston's .692 performance last year that ranks 10th in program history.
With four regular season matches remaining, the Mean Green needs to win just one of them to essentially secure a spot in the SBC championships. NT closes their final home stand against New Orleans at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and Louisiana-Lafayette on Monday at 7 p.m.
North Texas forced ULM (3-26, 0-14 Sun Belt) to a .000 attack percentage as a team, the lowest by a Mean Green opponent in 57 matches. The Warhawks landed just nine kills in the first two sets combined, compared to 26 for the Mean Green.
NT's serve kept the Warhawks off balance all night. Led by Sarah Willey's four, the Mean Green out-aced the Warhawks 8-1. Willey also led the Mean Green on the back line with 12 digs for her 17th double-digit outing of the season.
Kati Dillard moved into 10th place in school history in single season total blocks with her performance against ULM. The sophomore's four send-backs on Friday give her 112 on the season. She can jump all the way into fifth place with seven more blocks.
Middle Tennessee 3, Florida Atlantic 0
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee cruised to a 3-0 (25-10, 25-23, 25-11) over Florida Atlantic on Senior Night Friday night to extend its win streak to 11 matches.
The Blue Raiders (20-7, 13-1) posted a .436 hitting percentage with 42 kills on their way to the win. Senior Ashley Mead led the way with 11 kills recording a .409 hitting percentage of her own while junior Izabela Kozon knocked down 10 kills for a .400 attack percentage.
"I thought we played a great match. I was a little concerned team would overlook FAU thinking about our match tomorrow but the girls were very focused and did exactly what they needed to do," head coach Matt Peck said.
Senior Leslie Clark reached the 1,000 assists mark for the fourth time in her career with 32 assists. Clark also aided the defense with seven digs and three block assists in addition to four service aces.
Senior Ashley Waugh guided the backcourt defense with 13 digs while Kozon posted another double-double with 11 digs.
Middle Tennessee had 10 total blocks on the night with senior Janay Yancey leading the way with eight block assists. Yancey also had five kills on the night with a .571 hitting percentage.
"Janay has had another tremendous season for us and right now is one of our go to players no question. I think she is going to come up big for us the rest of the season and our team really relies on her," Peck said.
At the break, Middle Tennessee had 27 kills for a .429 hitting percentage with Mead leading the way with eight kills. Mead had a .462 hitting percentage while Oladinni hit .625 with six kills.
The Blue Raiders also had eight team blocks with Yancey posting seven block assists of her own.
Middle Tennessee will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. against Sun Belt East Division leader Florida International directly following the football game against FIU.
Troy 3, South Alabama 1
MOBILE, Ala. - The Trojans took a huge step towards qualifying for the Sun Belt Tournament as they defeated South Alabama, 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-22), on the road on Friday night.
The win was only the second road win of the season for the Trojans (12-16, 7-8), but fortunately it marked their last road match of 2009. The victory also marks head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick's 50th at the helm of the Trojans.
"We played really well," Kirkpatrick said, "We served aggressively and played good defense. That's what really put us over the top."
Troy was led on the night by Meghan Gilroy who posted 18 kills and a .283 attack percentage. Kayla Giles and Devin Von Pingel each posted 10 kills for the Trojans. Megan Henderson set up the Trojan attack with 39 assists.
Defensively, Lizzie Clough led the Trojans with 12 digs. Giles also posted double digits with 11. Gilroy led the Trojans at the net defensively, recording six total blocks.
The first set was a close one throughout. The largest lead by either team came at the end of the set with South Alabama (11-17, 2-13) winning 25-21. The set started with Troy going up 5-4. At that point, the Jags scored four straight to go ahead 8-5. The Trojans remained behind by three at 15-12 before they scored four straight to take a 16-15 lead. The two sides traded points until they were tied up at 20-20. At that point South Alabama took four of five to take set one.
Troy was led in the first set by Von Pingel who posted four kill on just six attempts. Henderson recorded 10 of her assists in the first set.
In the second set, the two sides found themselves tied early at 6-6. That is when the Jags scored four straight to take a 10-6 lead. With the Jags still out front 11-8, the Trojans went on their first big run, this one behind Strader's serve. Troy scored six straight to go ahead 14-11. That run proved to be enough as the Trojans built on their lead and closed out the second set, 25-19.
The Trojans hit .345 in the second set, compared to their .054 attack percentage in the first. Gilroy paced Troy in second, posting five kills with just one error. She also recorded two blocks in the second set.
The Jaguars got out to an early lead in the third set going ahead, 5-1. The Trojans got things back within two at 5-3, and they remained down by two until they tied things up at 9-9. At that point, South Alabama took five of eight to go ahead 14-12. It was then that Trojans went on their second big run, this time behind the serve of Vicky Rogoschewsky. The Trojans scored nine straight to gain a seven point lead at 21-14. Troy went on to close out the set, 25-16.
The Trojans were led in the third set by three Rogoschewsky service aces. She also had four digs as did Clough. Gilroy posted four kills with just one error.
Troy picked up where they left off, jumping out to an early 7-2 lead in the fourth set. However, the Jaguars didn't go away. Trailing 9-5, they scored eight of nine to go ahead of the Trojans 13-10, forcing Troy to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Trojans squashed the South Alabama run, scoring four of five to tie things up at 14-14.
The two sides traded points and found themselves tied seven different times between 14-14 and 22-22. South Alabama took a timeout after Troy gained a 23-22 lead. The Trojans then took the next two to clinch the fourth set, 25-22, and the match 3-1.
"This was a great way to start the end of our conference season," Kirkpatrick said. "Hopefully we can come out and play like this next weekend as well."
