GRANVILLE, Ohio (November 6, 2021) – The top-seeded Denison University volleyball team suffered a 3-1 (28-26, 25-19, 19-25, 26-24) loss to the fifth-seeded College of Wooster on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament inside Livingston Gymnasium.

Entering the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, the Big Red found themselves behind 5-0 in the first set before battling back to take an 8-6 lead thanks to a 7-0 run.

From there, neither team led by more than three while there were 12 ties throughout the rest of the set. Wooster had set point up 24-23 before a kill by Sophia Sobota, then was up 25-24 before another kill by Sobota, and lastly was up 26-25 before a Fighting Scots' attack error made it 26-26. However, a kill followed by an assisted block for Wooster gave them the first set victory.

Wooster, which began the day on Saturday after winning twice on Friday over the No. 8 and No. 4 seeds in the tournament to advance to the semifinals, then jumped out a 7-1 lead in the second set before the Big Red got back to within one at 7-6. Then with the two teams tied at 18-18, Wooster scored five straight points all on kills to take control up 23-18.

Denison never trailed in the third set, but it was 19-19 before a big 6-0 Big Red run ending with back-to-back kills by Daria Rodriguez got Denison on the scoreboard.

In the fourth set, however, the two teams were tied 15 times, including ties at every point from 15-15 on to 24-24, until Wooster got back-to-back kills to keep the match from going to a fifth set.

The Big Red were led by Sobota with 16 kills, Lucy Anderson with 15 kills and Rodriguez with 12 while Kirby MacKinnon finished with 46 assists. Defensivley, Jenna Corrao had 22 digs, MacKinnon had 13 digs for her ninth double-double of the season, and Corinne Boyd recorded a match-high six blocks.

Corrao was also named to the NCAC All-Tournament Team.

In its fifth season under the direction of Head Coach Carter Cassell, the Big Red are now 19-7 overall while also capturing their first-ever NCAC Regular-Season Championship in program history with a perfect 8-0 mark in conference play.

The NCAA will announce the field for this year's tournament at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, November 8, on NCAA.com. The NCAA tournament begins with regionals scheduled for November 12-14, followed by the eight-team final November 18-20.

For more information on the 2021 NCAA DIII volleyball tournament selections and tournament dates, please click HERE.