SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (November 5, 2022) – Following its second-place finish in the North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season standings, the Denison University volleyball team saw its NCAC Tournament run come to an end on Saturday evening following a 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-21) loss in the championship match to No. 11 nationally-ranked Wittenberg University. The Big Red reached the championship match after reverse sweeping Ohio Wesleyan University 3-2 (24-26, 21-25, 25-23, 25-17, 16-14) in the NCAC semifinals.

Match 1 (Denison 3, Ohio Wesleyan 2):

• In the epic fifth set, Denison and Ohio Wesleyan went back-and-forth with five lead changes as neither team led by more than two the whole way.
• Tied at 12-12, Denison got to match point after a kill by Lucy Anderson followed by an assisted block by Anderson and Sophie Tight to make it 14-12.
• The Battling Bishops then responded with two points on a service error by the Big Red and then a kill by Grace Cummings to tie it at 14-14 before an attack error by OWU's Kaitlyn Peters again got the Big Red to match point up 15-14.
• That led to the game-winning kill by Anderson, who finished the match with a new career-high 23 kills while adding eight blocks and hitting .488 percent.
• Anderson was followed by Kelly McCaskey with 17 kills and a new career-high 21 digs, which was good for her fifth double-double in her last six matches, while Cailey Johns added 10 kills on a .381 hitting percentage, which was good for her first double-digit kill total since September 28.
• Tight dished out a season-high 48 assists and added 11 digs for her fourth double-double in a row while Jenna Corrao led both teams with 23 digs, her sixth match in a row with 20 or more digs.
• Entering the tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, the Big Red found themselves leading almost the whole way in the first set as they jumped out to a 10-4 lead and then led 16-11 before a 4-0 run ending with three straight kills by OWU's Eliza Richardson got the Bishops to within one at 16-15.
• A kill by Anderson stopped the run, and then a kill by McCaskey tied the set up at 20-20 before Denison got to set point up 24-22 after scoring its last three points on bad sets by the Bishops.
• OWU, however, would not be denied and scored four points in a row on three kills and a service ace to steal the opening set and take the 1-0 lead.
• Then in the second set, Denison never led and fell behind big at 18-10 after a 7-1 run for OWU featuring three Big Red attack errors, a service error and a bad set.
• The Big Red did get back to within two of the Bishops at 21-19 following a 5-0 run starting with three straight kills by Anderson and followed by an ace by Alice Kempf and an assisted block by Anderson and Natalie Hutras.
• A solo block by Anderson got Denison to within two again at 23-21 before a Big Red service error followed by an ace for OWU's Neah White put the Bishops ahead 2-0 on the scoreboard.
• In the third set, Denison began its comeback attempt with a 6-0 run starting with back-to-back OWU attack errors and followed by back-to-back kills by Anderson, another solo block from Anderson, and a service ace by Corrao to put the Big Red ahead by a score of 14-10.
• Back-to-back kills by McCaskey and Johns followed by another bad set by the Bishops made it 20-15 Big Red before OWU battled back to within two at 22-20.
• Yet another bad set by the Bishops made it 23-20 Denison before back-to-back kills by Richardson got OWU to within one at 23-22 to force a Big Red timeout.
• A kill by OWU's Ava Kutilek tied it at 23-23 as the Bishops threatened to end the match right then and there before the Big Red dug down deep and got back-to-back kills by Tight and Anderson to get on the scoreboard.
• The Big Red then came out with a 6-1 lead in the fourth set after scoring six points in a row and maintained the advantage while never going ahead by more than five points until a 4-0 run featuring an assisted block by Tight and Anderson, back-to-back aces by Sadie Habeeb and ending with a kill by McCaskey made it 20-14.
• Denison then forced the deciding fifth set on a kill by Tight, another bad set by the Bishops and a kill by Sidney Gossard.

 
Match 2 (Denison 0, Wittenberg 3):

• In the championship match against Wittenberg, the Tigers got off to a great start with 13 kills and only one error in the first set (.353 percent) to go along with five blocks.
• Then in the second set, it was all about self-inflicted wounds by the Big Red as they hit -.071 percent while Wittenberg hit over .350 percent for the second set in a row and added four more blocks.
• In the third set, Denison's took its latest lead of any set with a 10-2 run to take the Big Red from down 13-7 to ahead 17-15. After a kill by Gossard made it 15-15, back-to-back assisted blocks by Anderson and Tight made it 17-15 before Wittenberg answered back with four straight points ending with a service ace to go up 19-17.
• A kill by Hutras got the Big Red back to within one at 19-18 before three straight kills by the Tigers made it 22-18, and then a solo bock by Anderson made it 23-20 before a no look kill by the Wittenberg setter, Mack Ricketts, to end it three points later.
• In the end, Denison was held to only a .018 hitting percentage while Wittenberg finished at .262 percent.
• The Big Red were led statistically by Tight with 20 assists and Corrao with 15 digs.
• Anderson recorded five kills and added four blocks while McCaskey had five kills and eight digs.

 
NCAC All-Tournament Team:

• Jenna Corrao and Lucy Anderson were both named to the 2022 NCAC All-Tournament Team for the Big Red. Corrao recorded 38 digs between the two matches and averaged 4.75 digs per set while Anderson totaled 28 kills (3.50 K/S) and 12 blocks (1.5 B/S) and hit .264 percent on the day.