Ohio Wesleyan posted its second victory over Denison this season following a 3-1 (28-26, 25-20, 19-25, 25-19) decision over the Big Red on Wednesday night from Livingston Gymnasium in Granville, Ohio. The previous setback was a 3-0 nonconference loss at the Manchester Invitational on Sept. 12.

The two teams battle back-and-forth in the opening set. DU led by as many as four several times, including an 18-14 lead midway through the set. However, the Battling Bishops battled back to shrink the deficit to one thanks to a kill and an ace by Iris Anderson and an attacking error by the Big Red. Following a Denison timeout, another Denison miscue tied the match at 18-18.

OWU took its first lead of the match with a Meigan Day kill, but a service error by Krysta Iwanek quickly erased the advantage. With the match now tied at 26-26, Anderson and Brianna La Croix, the Bishops' strongest hitters, recorded back-to-back kills to finalize the come-from-behind win. The set-one loss took some wind out of Denison's sails as they fell behind early in the second set. Despite a late rally, Ohio Wesleyan took a 2-0 match lead with a 25-20 win.

Denison avoided the sweep thanks to a 25-19 victory in the third set. Despite trailing as different points throughout the set, junior Elena Lein helped lift the Big Red to victory by recording three of DU's final four points. Lein slapped a kill towards the right side to make it a 22-19 contest and followed that up with a solo block. After an OWU miscue put Denison one-point away from the win, Lein dropped another kill down the right side for the victory.

Trailing 18-12 after back-to-back Day kills, DU would engineer a rally to shrink the deficit to 18-15. The run featured a double block by Lein and Brittany Perry and a kill from Lein. Down 21-17, two-straight kills by sophomore Rachele Lock pulled the Big Red to within two. However, four-straight points for Ohio Wesleyan ended the match.

Lock finished with a team-high 14 kills on 38 attempts, while Perry posted 10 to go along with two block assists. Lein had a .316 attacking percentage after registering seven kills with one error in 19 tries. Lein also posted four solo blocks and three block assists. Senior Jessica Borsani and freshman Kaileigh Poe dished out 25 and 17 assists, respectively, while freshmen Leah Reinfranck and Kristin Thewes each had two aces. Defensively, senior libero Emily Marguerite had a match-high 28 digs. Marguerite's total moved her past former Big Red standout Caitlin Krupka for second on the program's career list. The senior libero needs just 77 digs to Jaime Salay (2,155) on the school's all-time list.

Anderson recorded 23 kills, while La Croix added 17. Anderson also served up all four of OWU's aces and had two block assists. Shannon Schlater had 52 assists and 13 digs, while libero Erin Cannon led the team with 19 digs.

Denison falls to 10-11 and 2-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, while the Bishops move to 14-8 and 3-2 in league play. The Big Red continues its homestand on Saturday (Oct. 18) when they host DePauw University at 1 p.m.