SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (October 22, 2022) – After coming back from down 13-10 in the final set, No. 9 nationally-ranked Wittenberg University handed Denison University a 3-2 (12-25, 25-13, 25-17, 21-25, 15-13) defeat on Saturday in what for the second year in a row, was a five-set battle for the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship between the Tigers and the Big Red.

Both teams entered the matchup without dropping a single set in five conference matches so far this season, but that changed once the teams split the first two sets in deciding fashion. Denison hit .700 in the opening set with 14 kills and not a single attack error before hitting -.081 percent (5 kills, 8 errors) in the second set.

Then after Denison fell 25-17 in the third set, the Big Red broke an 18-18 tie in the fourth set with three straight points starting with a kill by Kelly McCaskey and ending with an ace by McCaskey. At the end of the set, a kill by Lucy Anderson made it 24-20 before a kill by Sophie Tight capped a 7-3 Denison run to win the fourth set and force a fifth set.

In the deciding set, Denison went from down 5-4 to up 9-5 after five straight points ending with back-to-back kills by Anderson. Denison then led it 10-6 after another kill by Anderson before a Wittenberg service error followed by a service ace by Tight made it a five-point margin at 12-7.

After a kill by the Tigers followed by an assisted block and an ace got it back it back down to two at 12-10, McCaskey stepped up with a big kill to get the Big Red to 13 points.

However, that would be the final point of the day for the Big Red as tied at 13-13, a solo block by Wittenberg's Laney Yoder got the Tigers to set point, and then a service ace by Reagan Kane ended it as Wittenberg won the match coming from behind on a 5-0 run.

After notching seven kills in the fourth set and five in the fifth set, Anderson tied her career-high with 21 kills while hitting .486 percent and also adding three blocks and three service aces.

McCaskey, meanwhile, finished with 11 kills, 19 digs and four aces while Cailey Johns had seven kills and hit .333 percent.

Additionally, Tight tied her season-high with 40 assists, Jenna Corrao had 20 digs, and Alice Kempf tied her career-best with 15 digs.

With only one week left in the regular season, Denison falls to 11-10 overall and 5-1 in the NCAC while Wittenberg improves to 18-3 and 6-0 with its eighth win in a row.

Next up, Denison will try to get back on track as the Big Red wrap up NCAC action with their final home match of the season against Hiram College starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 25.