Denver – #1 DU women’s volleyball (22-5 overall, 12-2 Summit League) swept #4 seed North Dakota State University 3-0 Saturday afternoon (25-11, 25-20, 25-22). The win sends Denver to the Summit League finals at 2:00 Sunday against the winner of the #4 South Dakota vs. #3 Oral Roberts winner.

Denver was led by Becca Latham’s 20 kills, Cassidy Rooke’s 17 digs, Emma Willis’ 7 blocks, and a team hitting percentage of .318 vs NDSU’s .138. Denver’s pressure and pace forced a number of hitting errors by the Bison and DU’s power game was too much for the visitors. Continue reading Denver Sweeps To Summit League Volleyball Finals →

Denver volleyball (19-5 overall, 10-2 Summit League) shook off a shaky first game (17-25) on Senior Day and swept the next three games ( 25-19, 25-15, 25-16) against the Omaha Mavericks to  remain in the Summit League regular-season chase.

DU Makes it Seven in a Row with Win Over Omaha | #DU1NATION | https://t.co/Tv1RJmyBCS pic.twitter.com/tG92UoRlzg

— Denver Volleyball (@DU_Volleyball) November 5, 2017

With two games to go for the Pioneers, Oral Roberts has the conference lead (11-2), tied with DU in the loss column. South Dakota fell to Oral Roberts over the weekend and sits at 9-3 with a game scheduled against DU in Vermillion, South Dakota next Friday. Then, DU plays Western Illinois in Macomb, Illinois Sunday to close out the regular season.  Continue reading DU Dominates Omaha on Senior Day →

Photo: The Pioneers battle San Diego State in the finale of the Denver Invitational Tournament.  

DU volleyball had a solid weekend, winning two of three matches at the Denver Invitational. DU defeated Gonzaga (3-0) and UC Riverside (3-0) but fell in the Saturday nightcap 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 20-25, 26-28) after battling back in the final game of the match but fell short (26-28). The Pioneers are now 9-3. Becca Latham and Kayla Principato were named to the All-Tournament Team. Continue reading Pioneer Volleyball powers through challenging, emotional weekend →

Colorado Springs, CO – When putting together a preseason article on DU volleyball, what better place to be than Denver’s preseason practice at the USA Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs? The team is preparing for the start of the upcoming season August 25th when they open their season against Tennessee State in Charleston, S.C.

With a solid week of scheduled practices and sleeping, eating and breathing volleyball alongside Olympic hopefuls, the team is building on their culture, identifying program goals, and focusing on skill building. The practice that I attended featured 6-on-6 play for over two hours with peer feedback, small group coaching, speed, and skill development.

Video: 6-on-6 games were the foundation for coaching feedback and evaluation.

Continue reading DU Volleyball at the USA Olympic Training Center →

Title IX is starting to drive the growth of the Women’s volleyball – as well as the broad appeal of ‘the beach’ on college campuses. At DU, more than half the DI athletes are men, yet 54% of undergrads are female.

USC downed Pepperdine in Gulf Shores, Alabama to win this year’s NCAA women’s beach volleyball championship. UC Santa Barbara, Stanford, and UCLA are logical coastal participants in beach volleyball, but Missouri State, Eastern Kentucky University, and Houston Baptist have teams, too.

Why? Continue reading Denver can, should bring the beach to the Front Range →