The Denison University volleyball team showed their toughness as they battled late adversity to pull out a thrilling five-set victory (25-23, 24-26, 25-17, 23-25, 16-14) over the Muskies of Muskingum University on Wednesday evening in front of a rowdy crowd inside Livingston Gymnasium in Granville.

The two squads battled for the entire two hours and fifteen minutes they were on the court.  Denison gained the early edge by securing a victory in a back-and-forth opening set, while Muskingum rallied from a five-point deficit to eventually take the second game.

In the third set, Denison jumped out to an early 5-2 advantage.  DU rattled off eight of the next 11 points to build up a 13-5 lead.  Now trailing 16-6, the Muskies fought back to shrink the margin to four midway through the game.  However, the Big Red answered with five unanswered tallies to regain a 21-12 advantage.  Muskingum was able to trim the deficit to six (23-17) before Denison scored the final two tallies of the set.

In the fourth game it was the visiting team that jumped out to an early 8-2 lead.  With the Muskies ahead 17-9 the Big Red began to chip away at the deficit as they shrunk the margin down to four (20-16).  Following a pair of MU tallies, Denison racked up seven unanswered tallies to take their only lead of the game at 23-22.  However, the Muskies were able to score the next three points to force a fifth and final game.

Muskingum held an 8-5 lead in the deciding set when the two squads switched courts.  Trailing by three points, DU rattled off five of the next eight tallies to trim the gap to 11-10.  The Big Red erased the deficit when they tied the match at 12-all.  Muskingum broke the tie with back-to-back tallies to set up a pair of match points.  After notching the ensuing point, Denison senior Lauren Weidner (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) came up with the play of the match to knot the game at 14-14.  Weidner sold out and made a diving one-armed dig that carried back over the net and found the hard wood on Muskingum's side.  The momentum from Weidner's key defensive play carried over to the next point as first-year Madison Owen (Novi, Mich./Northville) hammered home the biggest kill of her short career to give DU their only lead of the set.  The Big Red completed their come-from-behind win as the Muskingum offense failed to keep the ball in play.

Junior outside hitter Lauren Strowder (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) tied her season high with 17 kills, while rookie Lauren Gustafson (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades Charter) logged a career-best 13 kills.  Defensively, Weidner averaged nearly 10 digs per set on the night.

Denison improves to 4-13 with the win, while the loss drops the Muskies to 6-11.  DU returns to the court on Friday (Oct. 1) when they travel to Earlham College for a 7 p.m. match.