RICHMOND, Ind. (September 13, 2022) – The Denison University volleyball team got back into the win column and snapped its four-match losing streak with a big 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 16-25, 25-19, 15-10) win on the road at Earlham College on Tuesday night inside Druley Performance Gym.

Down 16-15 in the fourth set, a kill by Natalie Hutras tied it, and then back-to-back solo blocks by Sidney Gossard put the Big Red ahead for good.

After one of the longest rallies of the night, a kill by Lucy Anderson made it 20-16 before she added another kill to cap off an 8-0 Big Red run that made it 23-16, and then Anderson's 19th kill of the match brought forth the deciding fifth set. The Big Red had 13 kills and only three attack errors in the fourth set.

A solo block by Anderson secured the first point of the fifth set, and then Anderson recorded her 20th kill of the match to put the Big Red ahead 3-0. Anderson and Kirby MacKinnon then teamed up on a block to make it 5-1 Big Red, and yet another kill by Anderson made it 6-2.

The Big Red ultimately led the final set 10-4 after a kill by Cailey Johns and 13-5 after an assisted block by Anderson and Gossard followed by a kill from Gossard. To that point in the final set, Denison was hitting .385 with five kills and no errors. The final point of the night came on a sneaky kill by the setter, MacKinnon.

It was a big win for Denison (3-5), which avenged a 3-1 loss at home against Earlham (4-5) from last season.

This time around, it was the Anderson show as she finished with a new career-high of 21 kills, hit .321 percent and added a season-best eight blocks.

MacKinnon dished out a season-high 43 assists and added 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the year, and Jenna Corrao led with a season-high 28 digs while Kelly McCaskey added a career-high 17 digs and Alice Kempf had 13 for the second match in a row.

To start the match, Earlham jumped out to five-point leads of 10-5 and 13-8 in the first set before Denison got back to within two at 19-17 after three straight points featuring back-to-back kills by Anderson and Johns, followed by a service ace from Anderson.

The Big Red then tied it at 21-21 after another three-point stretch, but an important kill for the Quakers on a touch call against Denison started a three-point spurt for Earlham to bring up set point after an assisted block. Two points later, the fifth kill of the first set for Earlham's Maria Young put the home team up 1-0 as Denison was held to -.029 percent hitting in the opening set.

Denison took an 8-3 advantage early in the second set after a 5-0 run starting with four straight Earlham attack errors and ending with another ace by Anderson. A kill by McCaskey followed by another Quakers' attack error then made it 10-4 Big Red.

Denison again went by up six at 14-8 after back-to-back kills by Anderson, and then back-to-back kills by McCaskey and Gossard followed by the eighth attack error of the frame by the Quakers and an ace by MacKinnon made it 20-11. However, a furious 10-3 Earlham run highlighted by six kills from the Quakers made it 23-21 before the fifth kill of the set by Anderson and an assisted block from Anderson and MacKinnon tied the match at 1-1.

After committing only two attack errors in the second set, the Big Red had a combined 10 attack errors through the first two sets while Earlham had 10 in the second set alone to go along with nine in the first set. Both teams found themselves hitting .125 percent two sets in.

In the third set, Denison got to within one at 14-13 after a Quaker attack error followed by an ace by Corrao and back-to-back kills by Anderson, but a 7-1 Earlham run featuring four kills made it 21-14 Quakers. Anderson finally stopped the Earlham run with a kill, but the damage had been done as four straight points by the Quakers ended it.

The Big Red came out swinging in the fourth set and refused to go down easily as a kill by Anderson followed by a kill by MacKinnon on an overpass but Denison up by four at 11-7. Another kill by Anderson made it 13-10 Denison as the Big Red had eight kills compared to only one attack error to that point in the set, but an ensuring 5-1 run for Earlham put the Quakers ahead until the match-changing kill by Hutras ignited the big 8-0 Denison run.

Denison will now head to the Ohio Northern University Invitational. The Big Red will start off against Heidelberg University at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, September 16, before taking on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Muskingum University at 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 17.