SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Fourth-seeded Denison volleyball suffered a 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-19) loss to top-seeded and fourth-ranked Wittenberg on Saturday morning in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals. The loss eliminates the Big Red from the conference tournament.

DU opened the first set with consecutive kills from freshman Emma Woerner to take an early 3-2 lead. Then the Tigers strung together a 16-4 scoring run before taking the set 25-15.

Thanks to five combined kills by Isabella Pivec and Leah Reinfranck, the Big Red were tied with Wittenberg at 22-22 approaching the end of the second set. The Tigers tallied three-straight points to win the second set, 25-22.  In the third, they dispatched the Big Red 25-19 to advance to the championship match.

Woerner paced Denison with 11 kills and 11 digs, while Reinfranck added six kills and four digs. Julia Miller and Kaileigh Poe contributed 12 assists each and senior Kristin Thewes led the team with 16 digs. Wittenberg's Maddie Fischer led the match with 12 kills and Karen Wildemann's 43 assists were a match-best.

The Big Red under first-year head coach Carter Cassell concludes the 2017 campaign with a 15-14 record. The 15 victories are the most since the 2014 squad finished the year with a 15-13 record.