DENVER, CO ? The Arkansas State volleyball team dropped its fourth straight Sun Belt Conference match as the Lady Indians fell at Denver, 3-0 (23-30, 31-33, 28-30) on Saturday night at Hamilton Gym. The Lady Indians are now 6-12 on the season overall and 1-4 in SBC play while Denver improves to 10-5 overall and 4-0 in conference action
“We played with a lot of fight tonight and it was a definite improvement from last time that we played,” head coach Craig Cummings said. “This is a tough place to play and we battled through that adversity but tonight we were just our own worst enemy.”
The Lady Indians started out slowly against the West Division leading Pioneers as the Tribe was held to a .000 hitting percentage in game one. The Lady Indians committed 12 errors in the game while Denver posted a .206 hitting percentage in the first game victory.
The Lady Indians came out in game two and picked up the pace as they posted a .216 hitting percentage but Denver continued its strong play with a .340 hitting percentage. The Tribe had two chances at game point but could not convert as the Pioneers scored the final three points of the game to take the 2-0 match lead. Senior right side hitter Kristin Kirby came alive in game two as she paced the Tribe with six kills on a stellar .857 hitting in the game.
Game three saw the Tribe battle some more as the Lady Indians actually out-hit the Pioneers with a .233 hitting percentage compared to Denver's .220 clip. The Pioneers pulled out the victory in the decisive game as they closed out the match on a 6-3 run after trailing 25-24.
The Lady Indians used a balanced attack in the third game as sophomore middle hitter notched six kills while senior outside hitter Pip Soulsby and Kirby each chipped in five kills.
For the match, the Lady Indians were held to a .158 hitting percentage while the Pioneers posted a .262 hitting percentage. Soulsby paced the Tribe with her 10th double-double of the season as she finished with a team-high 13 kills while adding 10 digs. Kirby and Aaron each added 11 kills apiece while Aaron also chipped in a team-high seven blocks.
Junior libero Randilyne Volkmer continued her stellar defensive campaign as she led all players with 20 digs in the three-game match. Sophomore setter Katie Peil dished out 40 assists in the Tribe's loss.
Denver was led by three players in double figures in kills including 11 apiece from Amanda Millard and Kerry Porter. Lisa Hunter chipped in 10 kills for the Pioneers in the all-around effort.
The Lady Indians will be back in action on Tuesday evening as the Tribe travels to Martin, TN to face regional rival Tennessee-Martin in the second of a two-match season series at 7 p.m.
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