ALLIANCE, Ohio (Aug. 31) -- The Denison University volleyball team picked up its first win of the 2024 season Saturday when they closed the Mount Union Invitational with a 3-1 win over the University of Rochester. The Big Red suffered a five-set defeat to the host Purple Raiders earlier in the day.
Mount Union 3, Denison 2 (22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 24-26, 15-17)
The two teams battled throughout the five-set marathon match. The host Purple Raiders took the opening set by a 25-22 score. Mount Union used a 6-2 spurt to build a 14-9 run. The Big Red climbed back within two points with three consecutive points which included a service ace by
Ryan Kotalik, which cut the deficit to 16-14. Mount Union used six-straight points to put some distance between themselves and Denison. The Big Red put together a sizeable run to cut the deficit to 24-22. The run included service aces by
Katelyn Chiu and
Ayla Dunbar. However, the Purple Raiders finished off the set win with a kill out of a timeout.
The Big Red overcame an early deficit in the second set. Three-straight points allowed Denison to even the score at 15 all. After seeing Mount Union regain a narrow lead, Denison registered four-straight points to take a 20-17 advantage. The Big Red maintained its lead for the remainder of the set.
Maeve Perry accounted for three of the final five points of the set as Denison took the second set by a 25-20 margin to even the match.
Denison carried over its momentum from the second set into the third. The Red and White built an early 8-3 advantage over the home team. Kotalik had a pair of service aces during the early stages of the run. Mount Union chipped away and cut the Denison lead to a single point (18-17) later in the set. Four-straight points helped the Big Red build its lead back to five points (22-17) on a block by Perry and
Katy McCaffrey. Denison closed the set win with three of the final four points. A kill by Perry gave Denison the set 25-21.
Mount Union ripped off six-straight points before eventually building a 9-3 lead in the fourth set. Denison methodically chipped away at the deficit and used four-straight points to push into the lead. A pair of aces by
Katelyn Chiu allowed Denison to build a 16-14 lead. The Big Red maintained its lead down the stretch of the fourth set before eventually forcing match point following a kill by Dunbar. Trailing by a 24-20 deficit, the Purple Raiders ripped off six-straight points to force a decisive fifth set.
The fifth set featured five ties. The Purple Raiders led by a 10-7 score before the Big Red countered with five of the next six points. A kill by McCaffrey gave Denison a 12-11 lead. A few points later, back-to-back kills by Dunbar pushed the lead to 14-12, which gave Denison another match point. However, Mount Union countered with consecutive points and five of the next six to take the five-set victory.
Dunbar paced the Big Red with a career-high 20 kills in the match. Dunbar added 10 digs.
Claire Hamilton finished with 14 kills while Perry reached double figures with 11.
Alice Kempf logged 37 assists and 12 digs. Chiu finished with 21 assists.
Kotalik and Chiu tallied four service aces apiece.
Sadie Habeeb posted a match-best 25 digs. McCaffrey finished with a team-best five blocks.
Denison lost despite finishing with a big advantage in kills (69-45). Mount Union was able to offset the differential due to an advantage in blocks (17-8) and Denison committing 37 attack errors.
Denison 3, Rochester 1 (25-20, 23-25, 27-25, 25-18)
Despite the tough five-set loss earlier in the day, the Big Red was able to bounce back to record a four-set win over Rochester in the final match of the weekend.
The two teams split the opening two sets. Denison won by a 25-20 score in the opening set before Rochester earned a 25-23 set two victory.
The two teams battled throughout the third set before three-straight points helped Denison to a 27-25 victory in the third set. A solo block by
Cailey Johns finished off the third set victory for the Big Red.
Denison built an early lead in the fourth set and maintained the advantage for the remainder of the set. The lead reached seven points (22-15) when Dunbar, Hamilton and
Reagan Sass tallied consecutive kills. Habeeb finished off the victory with a service ace to make the final tally 25-18 in the fourth.
Hamilton racked up a team-best 13 kills in the win over Rochester. Dunbar finished with 11 kills and 17 digs. Six members of the Big Red had at least five kills.
Kempf had 20 assists while Chiu finished with 18 helpers.
Denison had 10 service aces versus Rochester. Chiu had the team high with three.
Habeeb recorded a match-high 25 digs in the victory.
Up Next: Denison travels to Michigan for three matches on Sept. 6-7. The Big Red will face second-ranked Hope College in the NCAC/MIAA Crossover on Friday in Grand Rapids. Denison will then face Albion and 18th ranked Calvin on Saturday.
