(Photo Credit: Russ Hons-FightingHawks.com)

Coming into today, UND had been working with its lineup featuring new players. along with key stars like Ashley Brueggeman. Today, the Fighting Hawks saw what winning the Summit League would take. The class of the league, Denver, won a four set victory over them (3-1) on the road this afternoon. Besides the second set, which UND won, the Pioneers finished every other set with at least 17 kills.

One thing that stood out today was the disparity in receive errors which has been a theme this season. UND finished with eight, and Denver finished with only two. In addition, the Pioneers had a distributed attack which keyed them to victory.Three Pioneers finished with double-digit kills. Becca Latham and Tina Boe each had 12 apiece, and Katarina Marinkovic finished with 11 kills. For UND, only Ashley Brueggeman finished above the 10 kill mark with 14. She was the only Fighting Hawk to hit above the .200 clip. She hit .286 on the day.

Going into their Tuesday tilt against Pittsburgh on the road, UND can use this game for a few things. First, they will look to lower their receive errors where possible to keep themselves in more points. Second, they will get this new look lineup some more reps and look to further hone their skill development. Third, they will find out which of their hitters besides Jordan Vail and Ashley Brueggeman they can look for to help provide their offense some more depth. Finally, they will have a chance to see one of the best teams in the country in their court and put good things on tape to further work on to help them out when they get back to Summit League play next weekend. After the Pittsburgh matchup, UND then heads on the road to take on North Dakota State University on Friday October 12 before returning home next Sunday to take on South Dakota back at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.