CU CLAIMS DENVER INVITATIONAL

Saturday, September 6

Denver, Colo.

10:00 a.m.

Colorado

Illinois State

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

September 06, 2003 | Volleyball

By: CUBuffs.com

DENVER ? Colorado's Nicole Carr and Monique Gerlach each recorded double-doubles to lead the Buffs to a sweep of Denver, 30-23, 30-25, 30-25, to claim the Denver Invitational title on Saturday.

CU won its fifth-straight match to improve to 6-1 overall. Denver dropped to 5-2.

Carr had 13 kills and 10 digs against DU. She had 44 kills and 35 digs over the weekend to gain tournament MVP honors. Gerlach just missed a triple-double against the Pioneers finishing with 13 kills, 13 digs and nine blocks. Gerlach joined Carr and freshman Austin Zimmerman on the all-tournament team.

CU played one of its most complete matches of the season all around. The Buffs hit a solid .298 (55 kils-21 errors-114 attacks) while holding DU to .185 (43k-20e-124att). CU had 14 ? team blocks and had five players with at least two block assists.

'We really closed out well tonight and that's something that we've been working on all season,' Carr said. 'We struggled last year at the end of matches, closing them out. This weekend we really pushed through and that's important to continue.'

Earlier on Saturday, CU rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Illinois State in five games, 29-31, 30-16, 27-30, 30-19, 15-7. Maragda Santillana tied a career high with 19 kills and had 15 digs. Carr also had 19 kills and a match-high 16 digs.

The Buffs will travel to play at Colorado State on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. in Moby Gym.