WESTERVILLE, Ohio (September 7, 2022) – The first road match of the new 2022 season for the Denison University volleyball team ended with a tough five-set, 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 21-25, 15-8), loss at No. 15 nationally-ranked Otterbein University on Wednesday night.

Both teams came out swinging in the opening set as Denison hit .458 percent with 14 kills while Otterbein hit .357 with 13 kills. Neither team led by more than two until a 5-0 run for the Cardinals put them ahead 21-17.

Fortunately, the Big Red responded with a 7-0 run starting with a kill by Cailey Johns assisted by Sophie Tight, followed by an assisted block from Natalie Hutras and Johns and back-to-back service aces by Kelly McCaskey. Three straight kills by Johns, Sidney Gossard and Hutras to close out the run brought up set point up 24-21 before a service error by the Cardinals two points later gave the Big Red the 1-0 lead.

In the next two sets, however, Otterbein kept up its pace with 14 and 12 kills, respectively, while limiting Denison to a .065 hitting percentage in the second set and a .000 percentage in the third.

In the fourth set, Denison got back on track and led 13-8 thanks to back-to-back kills by Corinne Boyd and Hutras, and then Boyd and McCaskey combined for back-to-back assisted blocks to make it 18-12 before a kill by McCaskey made it a seven-point Big Red lead (19-12).

After a kill by Lucy Anderson made it 20-13, a 6-0 Otterbein run ending with five straight Big Red attack errors got the Cardinals all the way back to within one at 20-19 before another kill by Anderson stopped finally stopped run. Then after Otterbein got back to within one again at 22-21, Johns came up big with three straight kills assisted by Kirby MacKinnon to force the fifth set.

It was the second year in a row Denison and Otterbein played to five sets, but unlike the last time, Denison never led in this one as Otterbein jumped out to a 7-2 lead thanks in large part to four errors by the Big Red.  

The closest Denison would get would be to within two at 7-5 and 8-6 before a 4-0 Otterbein run featuring two more Big Red attack errors took the score from 10-7 to match point up 14-7.

For the second set in the match, Denison was held .000 percent hitting in the final frame while Otterbein hit .294 percent.

Anderson led the Big Red with 15 kills while McCaskey and Johns both had eight and Nutras had seven. MacKinnon dished out 27 assists while Tight added 12, and both Jenna Corrao and Hutras finished with 13 digs.

With the loss, Denison falls to .500 on the season at 2-2 and is now one for its last 16 in matches against Otterbein since 2008. The Cardinals, meanwhile, improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2017, and are now 3-0 against teams from the North Coast Athletic Conference after earlier wins over Ohio Wesleyan University (3-0) and the College of Wooster (3-1).

Next up for the Big Red will be the MIAA/NCAC Crossover hosted by Hope College this weekend in Holland, Michigan. Denison will take on a trio of strong opponents as they battle No. 6 Hope at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 9, followed by No. 3 Calvin University at 10 a.m. and Albion College at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 10. Albion, like Denison, is receiving votes in the first AVCA Division III Coaches' Poll of the season.