GRANVILLE, Ohio (September 27, 2023) – Denison University volleyball won three consecutive sets on Wednesday night to defeat the Capital University Comets 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-10, 28-26) inside Livingston Gymnasium.

Making her first-career start, freshman Katelyn Chiu finished with 41 assists and 11 digs while fellow-freshman Claire Hamilton totaled a career-high 15 kills.

Sophia Sobota was next with a season-high 12 kills and a .310 attack percentage while Cailey Johns had seven kills and hit .462 percent. Lauren Brown hit .333 percent en route to recording five kills in what was just her third appearance as a freshman.

Sadie Habeeb matched Chiu with 11 digs while Sobota added nine and Alice Kempf had eight.

Despite recording five aces in the opening set, Denison allowed Capital to hit .214 percent (8 kills; 2 errors) to go along with four aces in the first set.

Denison trailed 8-1 to start the match but got back to within 11-9 on back-to-back kills by Hamilton and an ace by Chiu.

Capital answered with a 7-2 run to go up 18-11 before Denison again battled back to within two at 21-19 at then at 22-20 after another kill by Hamilton.

Unfortunately, the next three points went to the Capital on a kill, a service ace, and an assisted block to give the Comets the 1-0 lead.

Then in a wild second set, Denison took over the lead at 17-14 after a 6-0 run and then led 23-16 when an ace by Ryan Kotalik capped a 4-0 spurt.

However, facing a 24-17 deficit, the Comets refused to quit on the set and won six points in a row to battle all the way back to within one before a timely kill by Sobota finally allowed the Big Red to tie it at one set apiece.

Despite getting taken to the brink in set two, Denison was able to roll in the third set, hitting .600 percent (13 kills; 1 error) while limiting Capital to -.077 percent (5 kills; 7 errors).

In the sport of volleyball, each set can take on a life of its own, and the fourth set was much tougher on the Big Red from the start. Tied at 20-20, a Big Red attack error was followed up by an ace from the Comets to go up by two, but a huge kill by Hamilton and then a kill by Johns tied it again.

Denison twice had match-point in the fourth set, and Capital had set-point at 26-25, but after an attack error by the Comets to tie it, Sobota came up with a kill to bring up match-point for a third time, and then one more attack error by Capital ended it.

With its 10th straight win against Capital since 2012, Denison snapped it three-match losing streak this season to improve to 6-8 overall while the Comets fell to 6-10.

The Big Red will now head back into conference play as Denison travels to Hiram College for a 1 p.m. matchup on Saturday, September 30.