GREENCASTLE, Ind. (October 18, 2022) – For the second season in a row, the Denison University volleyball team will head into its matchup with Wittenberg University with an undefeated conference record as the Big Red took care of business with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-20) victory on the road at DePauw University on Tuesday night.

Denison hit .351 percent in the second set and .387 percent in the third while being paced by Kelly McCaskey with a career-high 16 kills and 10 digs for her third double-double of the season, all while hitting a career-high .625 percent.

Other standout performances from the Big Red on Tuesday included Lucy Anderson with 10 kills and seven blocks; Sophie Tight with 28 assists, nine digs and three service aces; and Jenna Corrao with 28 digs, her career-high for a three-set match, and a career-best nine assists. In addition, Natalie Hutras added seven kills for the second match in a row while Anderson has now recorded 15 blocks in the last two matches.

The key run in the first set for Denison was a stretch of eight straight points to go ahead 16-7, and then a 4-0 run ending with back-to-back kills from McCaskey assisted by Tight doubled up the score at 24-12 before another kill by McCaskey on the assist from Tight two points later put the Big Red on the board.

McCaskey finished with seven kills in the opening set before she had four and Anderson had six in the second set. Up three at 19-16 in the second set, a kill by Anderson, a service ace by Alice Kempf and another kill by Anderson made it 22-16, and then the final kill of the set by Anderson to go along with a solo block by Anderson put it out of reach at 24-17.

In the final set, a 6-0 Denison run featuring five DePauw attack errors and three blocks by Anderson helped the Big Red turn a 12-10 deficit into a 16-12 advantage. Then with a 22-20 lead, a kill by Hutras and an assisted block by Anderson and Sidney Gossard brought up set point before the ninth Tigers' attack error of the set ended it.

For the second season in a row, Denison (11-9 overall, 5-0 North Coast Athletic Conference) and Wittenberg (16-3, 4-0) will battle for the NCAC regular-season title as the ninth-ranked Tigers host the Big Red at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 22, in Springfield, Ohio. Last season, it was the Big Red who came out on top 3-2 at home to claim their first NCAC Championship in program history.