MONROE, La. - The ULM volleyball team faced its
second-straight five-set thriller in two evenings and came out on the losing
side against Sun Belt conference opponent Denver after it forced the extended
match and claimed a 3-2 win (25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 18-25, 13-15) Saturday
evening in the ULM Activity Center. The win ends ULM's undefeated reign in the
ULM Activity Center and ends the home winning streak at four, the longest since
the 2005 season.
Two Warhawks had double-doubles for the contest as Meghan
McCoy had a team-high 22 assists and 22 digs while Zuzana Markova had a match-best
17 kills and 16 assists. Blanca Ocana also reached double-digits in kills with
12 while Marcela Urbina tied her career-best mark in digs with a team-high 25.
Allanah Cullum had a standout night defensively by stuffing a career-best 12
blocks.
Kate Acker led the Pioneers for the evening with 11 kills
and 19 digs to pick up a double-double. Faimie Kingsley led Denver with 15
kills and Alyssa Bonelli chipped in 11 kills. Lyndi Johnson had a match-best 34
digs while Julia Cawthra had a match-high 50 assists.
Denver (5-10, 3-1 SBC) held the lead for the majority of the
first set and took its biggest advantage off a kill by Kingsley to go up 14-8.
The Warhawks (8-7, 2-3 SBC) found their rhythm and fought back with a 9-3 run
capped by a six-consecutive points including three service aces by Sukach to
knot the score 17-17. Four more ties followed until the 23-23 mark when a Morse
kill and an attack error gave ULM the first set 25-23.
Neither team took more than a two-point advantage for the
entire second set which saw 17 ties and eight lead changes right down to the
wire 22-22. ULM forced two Pioneer errors and used a kill by Markova to finish
the set with five consecutive points and snatch the second set win 25-22.
ULM jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the third set before Denver
used a 10-6 run the even the score 11-11. Two more times ensued when a kill by
Acker and a Warhawk attack error allowed Denver to take a 20-17 advantage before
ULM responded immediately to tie the score with three-consecutive points of
their own to knot the score 20-20. The Pioneers took a final 6-4 spree to win
their first set of the match 26-24.
The Pioneers rode the momentum of the third set win by taking
a commanding 12-1 lead in fourth set when the Warhawks came alive and used two
separate sprees of three- and four-consecutive points to fuel an 8-3 run and
push the score to 15-9. Denver continued to extend its advantage to the 24-15
mark when the Warhawks put together a late three-point streak, but it wasn't
enough as a kill by Bonelli ended the set 25-18.
A fired-up Warhawk team doubled its advantage in the fifth
set 8-4 off an attack error when the Pioneers began to respond with its own 8-4
run to knot the score 12-12. ULM managed just one more kill by Cullum until
Denver owned the end of the set, scoring the final three points needed to win
the deciding set 15-13 and claim the match.
ULM takes a week break from play before continuing Sun Belt
action against in-state foe UL-Lafayette at home Sunday at 1 p.m. to wrap up a three-match
homestand.
