DENVER – In a battle of the top two teams in the Summit League, IUPUI's league leading offense fell flat against Denver in a 3-0 loss to the Pioneers. The Jags (19-8, 10-3) hit .112 as a team and committed 26 errors to fall to second place in the Summit League with three matches left to play.
 
Denver (23-6, 11-3), the second best hitting team in the league, only hit .184 on the night committed seven less errors than the Jags. The Pioneers also finished with nine blocks to IUPUI's five.
 
Senior Kaitlyn Hickey led the way offensively for the Jags with 11 kills. Hickey was the only Jag in double figure kills, fellow senior Kelly Wachtel was second on the team with nine. Wachtel finished with the highest hitting percentage of the six Jags with nine or more attempts, hitting .208.
 
The .112 hitting percentage is the lowest IUPUI has hit in a match since hitting the same percentage against Illinois State, also a 3-0 loss, on Sept. 11.
 
IUPUI jumped out to an early 10-5 lead in the first set but Denver fought its way back to tie the set at 14. The teams would trade leads and with the score tied at 20 Denver took command and took the first set 25-23.
 
Set two was back and forth for the first half of the set with the first three-point lead belonging to Denver at 15-12. IUPUI managed to keep the set close until, with the score 19-15 in favor of the Pioneers, Denver went on a 3-0 run and took the second set 25-18.
 
Looking to avoid the sweep, IUPUI and Denver went back and forth in the third set with the teams tied multiple times early on. Denver took an 18-14 lead but the Jags would win the next two points to get within two. After that the Pioneers won three straight points to go up 21-16. At that point, Denver, which was 18-0 in matches where it was up 2-0, finished off the sweep of the Jags with a 25-20 set three win.
 
The Jags will look to bounce back from the loss tonight when they travel to Fargo, N.D. to take on North Dakota State Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.