DENVER, Colo. - Heading into the 2017 season, UP Volleyball Head Coach Arunas Duda was looking for more grit from his team than displayed the previous season. Three games into the season, they've already shown they have that extra competitive spirit, rallying from a two-set deficit to defeat Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 3-2 (13-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-17, 15-12).
 
"They showed a lot of maturity and sided out 100 percent in the fifth set to earn the win," Duda said. "I am beyond impressed with their fight and the character with their backs against the wall."
 
Struggles in serve receive threw the UP offense off balance in the first two sets. The first set was particularly rough, with the Lady Argos only managing 8 kills on 29 attempts. On the other side of the net, the Eagles were clicking on all cylinders, hitting for 18 kills and just 1 error as UP struggled to keep up.
 
After falling into the 2-0 hole, Coach Duda decided to make some changes. The team switched from a 5-1 offense with freshman setter Ava Larkin as the lone operator of the offense to a 6-2 with senior Dani Norling stepping in to create a second option. UP also moved freshman outside hitter Sydney Andersen to rightside hitter and brought in redshirt freshman Lauren Brown at outside hitter.
 
"We weren't great on serve receive and our offense was very stale," Duda said. "We made a few adjustments in the lineup and our girls came out strong in the third, setting the tone for the rest of the match."
 
The changes accomplished the intended effect of spicing up the UP offense and all the sudden the Lady Argos were the clear aggressor. Suddenly the team's attack was unpredictable. UP's first 8 kills of the third set came from four different players with Andersen, Brown, and seniors Mariah Diaz and Josee Pendleton each contributing two.
 
This newfound balance resulted in shockingly improved offensive numbers. After hitting for percentages of .103 and .182 in the first two sets, the Lady Argos had 13 kills and just 1 error for a percentage of .444 in the third.
 
Those numbers dropped only slightly in an equally dominant 25-17 win the fourth set which set up the team's second straight five-set match.
 
During the previous day, UP played to the tiebreaker set against Mayville State and pulled out its second win of the season and things were no different against ERAZ. While both offenses were affected in the fifth set, the Lady Argos were at another level, playing their best offensive set of the season by far.
 
UP hit .500 in the set and won 12 of its 15 total points on kills.
 
After Ava Larkin saw the lion's share of the minutes at setter against Mayville State, the return of Norling into the mix was obvious. Larkin still led UP with 25 assists and she added 11 digs to reach double-digits in those two categories, but Norling wasn't far behind with 21 assists and 8 digs.
 
While the offense was more balanced with both Norling and Larking in the mix, Andersen still led the team in kills for the second straight game, this time tallying 16 after a 23 kill performance against Mayville.
 
Next to Andersen, the team's two tall seniors tied for second most points earned. Rightside hitter Mariah Diaz finished with 12 kills and 2 blocks assists, while middle blocker Josee Pendleton has 11 kills, a hitting percentage of .476, and a team leading 4 block assists.
 
The win brings UP's record to 3-0, tying the 2017 team for the best start in program history. The team will have a chance to break that mark later in the day with a match against York College at 4:30 p.m.