DENVER, Colo. – The North Dakota volleyball team fell to the Denver Pioneers in three sets (25-22, 25-16, 25-23) on Saturday afternoon from Hamilton Gymnasium. The Hawks fall to 7-16 and 4-8 in Summit League play, while Denver improves 15-8 and 7-5 in the league.

The match featured 20 ties and 12 lead changes, with 19 of those ties and all 12 lead changes taking place in sets one and three as the Hawks held leads by at least three in both of those frames.

North Dakota was led offensively by Paige Barber who recorded 14 kills on a .440 hit %. Matthea Dalton (8), Katy Riviere (5) and Ava Galvan (5) combined for 18 kills, as the four players had 32-of-the-36 UND kills.

Sadie White had 27 assists and two service aces, along with Barber who also tied a career best two service aces. Galvan scooped two solo blocks, giving her seven on the season. Vanessa Washington contributed with two total blocks.

UND had a season-low 16 digs, leading to Denver hitting for .477 on the afternoon, the highest a team has hit against the Hawks this season.

Set one was a competitive battle, with the Hawks jumping out to a 6-2 advantage, which the Pioneers responded to with a 6-1 run to take an 8-7 lead. From there it was back and forth, with six lead changes as UND scored two consecutive points to take a 9-8 lead, but Denver answered with a run of its own to go up 13-10. North Dakota responded with a 7-3 burst to go up 17-16. The teams then exchanged points, with a Galvan kill putting UND up 18-17. Denver then scored three consecutive points, which the Hawks matched by scoring three consecutive of their own, featured by kills from Barber and Dalton to take a 21-20 advantage. From there the Pioneers scored five of the last six points of the set, to take an entertaining first frame, 25-21.

NoDak never led in set two, trailing just 7-5 but the Hawks conceded a 6-1 run to Denver to fall behind 13-6. The Hawks trimmed the deficit to just three, trailing 14-11, but that was as close as they would get. Denver led by as many as nine, taking set two 25-16.

Set three was another close set, with the Hawks showing a lot of fight. UND fell behind 4-1 but used a 9-5 run to go up 10-9. Following two consecutive Pioneers points to make it 11-10, a kill from Barber and two Denver attack errors put UND back in front 13-11. The Hawks controlled a lead by as many as three, leading 17-14 but a Denver 6-2 burst put the Pioneers back in front 20-19. North Dakota was unable to capture another lead the rest of the frame, dropping set three, 25-23.

North Dakota will play again a week from today on Saturday at home against North Dakota State. First serve is slated for 6 p.m.

Postgame Notes

• UND falls to 1-14 all-time against Denver
• Barber had 14 kills, good for her 19th double-digit kill match of the season
• White had two service aces, giving her nine multi-ace games on the year
• White's 27 assists gives her 18 performances of 20 or more assists
• Galvan had her third performance with two block solos, giving her a team high seven total block solos this season
• The Hawks recorded 36 kills and 16 digs
• Denver hit for .477 and UND hit for .239

How It Happened
Set 1: DU 25, UND 22
Set 2: DU 25, UND 16
Set 3: DU 25, UND 23
For more information on North Dakota Volleyball, visit Fightinghawks.com or follow-on social media UNDvolleyball.
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