GRANVILLE -- For the third-consecutive home match, the Denison volleyball team needed a fifth set to decide a winning inside Livingston Gymnasium. Despite dropping the opening two sets, the Big Red rallied to earn a five-set win (25-27, 23-25, 25-15, 28-26, 15-10) on Wednesday night.

After dropping two hard-fought two-point decisions in the opening set, things did not look good for Denison in their second-to-last home match of the season. In the third set, DU came out guns blazing as they quickly built a 10-point lead at 15-5 which forced the Scots to burn their second timeout of the set. Senior Rachele Lock recorded three kills during the surge, while senior Sarah Bradley and junior Leah Reinfranck each had two finishers. Freshman Alex Tubbs also notched a pair of block assists to help the cause.

Ahead 19-9, the Big Red saw their top hitter Reinfranck appear to suffer an injury while blocking a Wooster attack. Denison stepped up in the absence of the junior middle hitter, which included her replacement Mary Massarelli. The sophomore registered a kill and an ace in short work for DU. One point away from extending the match, senior Carly Newell came up large with a dig that set the table for Bradley's set ender.

The fourth set was more of the back-and-forth battle the first two sets were as neither team could really pull away from the other. Denison built a lead as large as five at 12-7, but an 11-5 run by the Fighting Scots erased the deficit and turned it into a one-point advantage. Wooster had a couple chances to end the match, but a cross-court finish from Lock and another ball down the line by the senior kept the Big Red alive on both occasions.

After the Scots Lydia Webster scored and gave up a point to move the score to 26-26, Lock stepped behind the line to try and serve up a DU win. Reinfranck, who returned to the match midway through the set, put the Big Red in front after sending an attack off the finger tips of a potential Wooster blocker. Following a Wooster timeout, the junior ended a long rally with a thunderous finish in the back right corner to setup a fifth set.

Denison carried the momentum into the final set, scoring eight of the first 11 points. The Scots engineered a 6-2 surge that shrunk the deficit to 10-9. Reinfranck got the serve back for the Big Red by hammering home another kill. Sophomore Isabella Pivec followed suit with a finish of her own to move the score to 12-9. Junior Kaileigh Poe served up an ace after a Wooster stoppage, while Pivec and Reinfranck set up match point with a double block. The Scots regained service, but Reinfranck came up with a devastating kill from her middle position to close out the come-from-behind win.

Reinfranck finished with a match-high 19 kills, while Lock added 15 finishers to pace the DU offense. Bradley chipped in nine kills, while Tubbs and Pivec had seven apiece. Poe dished out 38 assists and served up two aces, while freshman Katie Aucamp had a team-best three aces. Defensively, libero Kristin Thewes logged 33 digs, while Poe collected 16. Lock and Newell each posted 13 digs, while Aucamp added 12. Tubbs finished with seven block assists, while Reinfranck, Pivec and Bradley each had four.

Denison moves to 10-13 overall and 3-3 in the NCAC, while Wooster falls to 14-7 and 2-5 in conference play. The Big Red returns to action on Saturday when they host DePauw at 1 p.m.