SALT LAKE CITY — Alexsa "Crash" Parker picked up right where she left off from last season in Friday's season opener and both Lindsey Knudsen and Sienna Young re-established themselves as offensive powers for the Saint Mary's volleyball team, but it was Denver University who came away with a 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-15, 25-15) victory on the first day of the Utah Volleyball Classic at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Denver (1-0) got out ahead by 10 points (21-11) in the first set en route to a 25-17 victory, but Saint Mary's (0-1) wasn't going to lie down. The Gaels fell behind the Pioneers three different times during the second set, but scored the final three points of the set on back-to-back kills by Jennifer "Boo" Laird and Knudsen, and a clinching ace from Sarah Chase to win, 25-22, and even the match at 1-1.
   
• SMC was slow to find its rhythm in the third set, hitting -.171. Meanwhile, Denver jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the set and never looked back. The Gaels had twice as many attack errors (12) as kills (6) in the third. But even with the offense struggling, the defense was still strong. The Gaels held Denver to .233 or lower hitting through the first three sets.
   
• Denver put away the match by hitting .593 in the fourth set. The Gaels also improved in the fourth set, committing their lowest amount of errors on the night (3). Denver had two players log double-digit kills Friday and had three hit over .300. Tina Boe led all players by hitting .529 with nine kills and no errors on 17 attempts. Sienna Young was second on the Gaels with eight kills behind Knudsen's team-leading 12.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 1: One freshman – Breyan Ashley (who also wears jersey No. 1) – made her collegiate debut Friday. She played in two sets for the Gaels.
• 12: Lindsey Knudsen led Saint Mary's with 12 kills and three service aces. She also took the most swings on the team with 40. She narrowly missed a double-double with eight digs.
• 27: Alexsa "Crash" Parker tied her career high with 27 assists. She logged her first double-double of the year with a team-high 11 digs. She led SMC with 10 double-doubles in 2017.

COMING UP

• Saint Mary's will play two matches on Saturday to conclude play at the Utah Volleyball Classic. The day starts with a match versus host and No. 19-ranked Utah at 11 a.m. PDT. SMC wraps up the tournament with a neutral site match versus UC Irvine at 3:30 p.m. PDT.
   
• Fans can find all live coverage links on SMCGaels.com. Follow @SMC_Volleyball and @SMCGaels for all the latest on the Gaels.