DENVER, Colo. – The Omaha volleyball program dropped a road match in straight sets to the Denver Pioneers Sunday afternoon.
 
The Mavericks fell 25-12, 27-25 and 25-15 in the match to fall to 14-10 overall and 9-3 in league play, while Denver improves to 22-1 and a perfect 11-0 in The Summit League.
 
Leaders for Omaha
Claire Leonard had a team-high eight kills on .375 hitting with three blocks and Sydney Case had 26 assists and five digs.
 
Inside Set 1
Denver opened with a 12-2 run in the first set. Despite a 4-0 run by the Mavericks off a kill by Leonard, the deficit was too much to overcome as the Mavericks fell 25-12 in the set.
 
Inside Set 2
The Mavericks fought hard and remained neck-and-neck with the Pioneers throughout the set. After a service ace from Giselle Eiche and a kill by Abby Bergsten, the Mavericks built a 10-7 lead. The lead increased to 15-10 off three kills by Leonard, but the Pioneers cut it to two. Omaha bounced back with another run and increased its lead to 20-15 and forced a Denver timeout. Out of the break, Denver scored five straight and tied the score at 20-all. Leonard tallied another kill to put Omaha in position for the set point (25-24), but the Pioneers responded with two straight kills and forced a Maverick error to win 27-25 and lead 2-0.
 
Inside Set 3
Omaha jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but six straight Pioneer points put the Mavericks in an 8-5 hole. From there, Omaha never regained the lead as Denver put together a 9-3 run. Omaha rallied together for 10 more points in the set, but the gap was too much to overcome as the Pioneers won the final set 25-15.
 
Looking Ahead
Omaha is back in action for its final two matches of the season. The Mavericks welcome South Dakota State to Sapp Fieldhouse this Friday, Nov. 2, for a 7 p.m. showdown, followed by Senior Day against South Dakota inside Baxter Arena on Sunday, Nov. 4, at 1 p.m. Information for live stream, audio, stats and tickets can be found on OMavs.com.