MEADVILLE, Pa. -- The Big Red volleyball team earned their second North Coast Athletic Conference victory of the season following a 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 25-9) win over Allegheny on Saturday at the David V. Wise Center.

With the score tied up at 20-20 in the opening set, Allegheny's Alysha Crowther was whistled for a bad set that Denison a one-point edge. Junior libero Kristin Thewes followed with a kill off an assist from senior Rachele Lock to put DU up by two. The Gators closed the gap to one, but a pair of Allegheny miscues surrounded by a Leah Reinfranck kill gave the Big Red an early match lead.

Late in the second set, Lock gave Denison a 21-13 lead with her second finisher of the set. Staring a two-set deficit in the face, the Gators methodically engineered a 10-2 burst that tied that set at 23-23. The tie was broken with a Crowther serving error, while freshman Katie Aucamp closed out the set win with a kill. Allegheny pushed the match score to 2-1 with a six-point win in the third set, but it was a dominating 25-9 win in the fourth that earned DU their second conference win.

The Big Red took advantage of multiple Gator miscues as they slowly built a double-digit advantage in the fourth. Denison earned the final five points of the match thanks to three Allegheny errors and kills from senior Sarah Bradley and Reinfranck. In the final set, the Big Red posted a .379 attacking percentage with 14 kills and just three errors in 29 attempts. On the flip side, Allegheny had only four finishers while committing nine mistakes in 32 chances.

Reinfranck paced the DU offense with 12 kills and a .303 hitting percentage, while Lock had 10 kill and Isabella Pivec finished with seven. The setting tandem of Kaileigh Poe and Julia Miller combined for 38 of the team's 41 assists. Poe finished with 21 while Miller had 17. Aucamp served up an impressive five aces. Defensively, Thewes collected 25 digs, while Reinfranck and Alex Tubbs each had four block assists.

Denison improves to 9-13 on the year and 2-3 in the league, while Allegheny falls to 8-12 and 0-6 in the NCAC. The Big Red returns to action on Wednesday when they host Wooster at 7 p.m.