DENVER, Colo. – Through the first three matches of the season, Lady Argo volleyball had won in four sets once and five sets twice but had yet to win a clean sweep. That changed in the team's second contest of the day at the Johnson & Wales Tournament, as the Lady Argos defeated York University 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-19). Not only did the team get the sweep, but the win moves UP to 4-0, the best start to a season in program history.
 
The sweep is an important shot of confidence for a young team that started to find its groove at the end of a five-set win earlier in the day against Embry-Riddle (Ariz.). After dropping the first two sets of that match, UP switched from a 5-1 to a 6-2 offense and the team kept that tactic against York to great effect.
 
"I am extremely pleased with our team's development. They showed the fight to come back this morning and the poise to beat a team handily this afternoon," UP Head Coach Arunas Duda said. "We still have a long way to go, but the learning curve and their willingness to make changes have been so fun to watch."
 
The Lady Argos were the most dominant they've been all season, particularly in the first set. In that first game, UP hit for a percentage of .467, the best average of any 25-point set this season.
 
It started with UP's serving, which caused troubles for the Panthers all match. The strong serves kept York's offense on its heels and allowed UP setters Dani Norling and Ava Larkin to run a smooth attack.
 
Those two setters spread the ball around evenly to their hitters all of whom were effective. Over the previous two games, freshman outside hitter Sydney Andersen was the clear focus of the offense, but four different hitters shared an even load against the Panthers.
 
Andersen was one of those four, tallying 8 kills, along with senior Mariah Diaz, junior Melissa Gonzalez, and redshirt freshman Lauren Brown.
 
Diaz was also strong on the defensive side of the net, leading the team with 4 block assists.
 
Norling and sophomore defensive specialist Emily Stoker were Lady Argos whose serves caused consistent problems for York. Stoker set a new career high with 6 aces in the match, doubling her previous career high. She also led UP with 9 digs.
 
After watching freshman Ava Larkin get the brunt of the work at setter when the team ran a 5-1 in the first few games of the season, Norling played a stellar match in the 6-2 system. For the first time in 2017, the senior led her team in assists with 22, while added 3 aces, and 7 digs.
 
The win gives UP a program record best start to a season at 4-0 but still have awhile to go before matching the 2011 squad that lost its third match of the season but won its next 15 games to start the year 17-1. The team will face its toughest task yet, on the third day of the Johnson & Wales Tournament when they face defending NAIA champions (1) Hastings College at 11:30 a.m. After that match, the team will take on Wayland Baptist (Texas) at 2 p.m.