Kansas City
8-19,5-9Summit League
Denver
16-10,10-5Summit League
Gillen's Career Day Lifts Roos over Pioneers
11/5/2022 6:17:00 PM | Volleyball
Carly Gillen posted a career-high 13 kills and the Roos hit at a season-high .316 clip to run past Denver
DENVER, Colo. – Kansas City kept its hopes alive for a Summit League championship berth with an impressive 25-14, 14-25, 25-23, 25-19 victory over Denver here Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at Hamilton Gymnasium. The win broke a three-match losing streak for the Roos and it snapped a four-match winning streak by the Pioneers. The win also avenged a lopsided three-set loss to this same Denver team earlier this season.
Carly Gillen matched Odyssey Warren with a season-high13 kills and Raina Smith chipped in with 12 to lead a balanced Kanas City attack. The Roos hit a season-high .316 for the match, with Gillen leading the way with just one error in 17 attacks for a .706 efficiency.
The win gives Kansas City a 5-9 mark in Summit League play with four matches remaining in the regular season with the hopes of passing Oral Robert and catching South Dakota State in the standings for the sixth and final championship entry. Denver fell to 10-5 in league play will need some help to earn one of the first-round championship byes.
Kansas City and Denver traded 25-14 winning sets in the first two stanzas before the Roos lost a six-point lead and then scored the final three points to win the third set 25-23. A strong fourth set behind two timely kill2s by setter Sydney Henry and two aces by Warren allowed the Roos to pull away from a 16-14 lead and win going away.
KEY MOMENTS
- S1 / 4-1 – The Roos jumped out to a 5-1 lead behind kills by Odyssey Warren and Georgia Mullins and two ball handling errors by Denver. The fourth KC point came after a successful challenge for a called Roos touch that was overturned.
- S1 / 12-6 – Kansas City registered its sixth kill without an error to extend the lead to six points before Denver called its first timeout.
- S1 / 19-9 – Kansas City took control of the set and two-straight Denver hitting errors allowed the lead to build to 10 points.
- S2 / 6-6 – Carly Gillen had her sixth kill in six attempts to remain perfect as the Roos tied the set at 6-6.
- S2 / 14-25 – Denver scored 11 of the last 13 points of the second set to win going away. After going the entire first set without a block, the Pioneers had six block assists in set two.
- S3 / 7-2– The Roos scored five-straight points behind two kills by Rachel Sturdevant and lone kills by Gillen and Warren to break a 2-2 tie and take a 7-2 lead before a Denver timeout.
S3 | Roos on a 5-0 run after the kill by @carlygillen ??#ROOUP | #DeclareKC pic.twitter.com/EwT76AxV0t
— Kansas City Volleyball (@KCRoosVB) November 5, 2022
- S3 / 11-6 – Raina Smith collected kills on three straight attacks as the Roos extended the lead to 10-6. Smith doubled her kill total for the match with those three attacks.
- S3 / 20-20 – After trailing by as many as six points in the set, Denver rallied to tie the match at 20-20 on a Glasgow kill. The Pioneers would go on to take a 23-22 lead, but a Gillen kill, a Warren service ace and a Sturdevant kill gave KC a 2-1 lead after three sets.
- S4 / 6-2 – The Roos grabbed the early momentum in set four behind kills by Mullins and Gillen and two ball handling errors by the host team for a 6-2 lead. Raina Smith had kills on Kansas City's next three offensive attacks to keep Denver at bay at 10-6.
- S4 / 19-14 – Kansas City led 16-12 and Denver came out of a timeout with Memphis Glasgow putting down two kills to cut into the lead. The Roos then called a time out, and Gillen and Smith countered with kills of their own to stretch the lead. The Roos were able to extend the lead to 24-18 as Denver had a hitting error and a ball handling error before Warren had a kill to end the match.
STATS TO NOTE
- Kansas City didn't record a hitting error until the score was 20-12 in set one, and finished the first set with 14 kills, two errors in 25 attempts for a .480 hitting efficiency.
- One of the best blocking teams in the country, Denver went without a block in the first set. The Pioneers also had 10 errors and a .000 hitting efficiency in the opening set.
- Denver hit .483 in set two to win handily by the same 25-14 score. The Roos had seven errors and just nine kills in 32 attacks for a .063 efficiency. Denver's Jordan Lockwood led all players with 10 kills through two sets, while Gillen had seven to lead Kansas City.
- The Roos are now 2-5 all-time vs Denver, winning for the first time at Hamilton Gymnasium.
- Denver hit .432 and Kansas City just .148 in the first match Oct. 6 in Kansas City.
- Kansas City's .316 hitting efficiency was a season-high and the second-best all season by a Denver opponent.
COACH CHRISTI POSEY, QUOTED
"This win was exactly what we needed. We had great balance due to both Peyton and Syd delivering high quality sets in rhythm. Our primary passers locked in against one of the Leagues best serving teams and we were able to be a threat in all six rotations most of the time with three options. Serving pressure has been a focus for us and I felt that allowed for some solid defensive play. Carly had a great match; she worked hard to be available in transition and was connecting well with our setters. We'll need to continue quality efforts like today to get to the conference tournament."
UP NEXT
Kansas City returns home to face league-leading South Dakota next Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
