Women's Volleyball | 9/13/2025 4:34:00 PM
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Richmond, Ind: The Denison Big Red volleyball team resumed action at the Bill Brandes Memorial Invitational, hosted by Earlham College. After going 1-1 on day 1, the Big Red took the court against Heidelberg for their first of two matches on Saturday. The Big Red pulled away in a thrilling 3-2 decision, collecting their second win on the weekend. To close out the Saturday slate, the Big Red took on the undefeated Fightin' Engineers from Rose-Hulman. Ultimately, the Big Red fell in straight sets, ending their weekend 2-2 and moving to 6-4 on the season.
Up Next: The Big Red will have a quick turnaround. On Tuesday, Denison will travel to Marietta College to take on the Pioneers in an OAC vs NCAC matchup.
Match 1 (Denison 3, Heidelberg 2) (18-25, 19-25, 25-23, 26-24, 15-8)
Coming off a 1-1 performance on Friday, the Big Red showed tenacity and grit to come back against the Student Princes of Heidelberg.
Heidelberg jumped out to a commanding 2-0 lead after downing the Big Red in back-to-back sets; however, Denison showed no quit. In the third set, the Big Red took an early 9-3 lead. Heidelberg was able to slowly chip away at Denison's lead but the Big Red were not swayed, pushing the first match into a fourth set.
The fourth set was nothing short of electric. Heidelberg, looking to collect their ninth win of the season, jumped out to an early lead and maintained a distance of four points for most of the set. Needing just one point to take the match, the Student Princes led the Big Red 24-21. Devon Moore got things back into Denison's possession with a kill before taking over serving. Back-to-back errors by Heidelberg knotted things up at 24. Claire Hamilton delivered a striking kill to move the needle to set point. Aiming to tie things up, Heidelberg went for a spike but missed wide right, giving Denison the final point they needed to move the match to a fifth and final set.
The final set was all Big Red from the start. Denison jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, ultimately sealing the match one victory by a score of 15-8. After falling behind 2-0, Denison swiped every ounce of momentum from Heidelberg, rattling off three straight sets for a 3-2 reverse sweep.
Claire Hamilton stole the show, recording 25 kills for the Big Red and leading both sides with 56 total attempts. Emily Monachino hit .314 in the first match. Amelia Kurtz tallied a mind-boggling 53 assists in the five-set showdown. Sadie Habeeb bagged 28 digs while Ryan Kotalik dealt three service aces.
Match 2 (Denison 0, Rose-Hulman 3) (19-25, 23-25, 16-25)
After a stellar comeback performance in match one, the Big Red had their hands full in match two with the undefeated Fightin' Engineers from Rose-Hulman.
Rose-Hulman took control of the match from the first whistle and did not falter throughout the match, though the Big Red put up a valiant effort to get back in the driver's seat, they couldn't put together a second comeback.
Devon Moore and Claire Hamilton continued their dominance in the kill column, leading the Big Red with nine and eight, respectively. The pair also led both teams in total attempts. Amelia Kurtz led Denison with 21 assists while Sadie Habeeb recorded 16 digs. Kate Sicklick and Whitley Metz dealt a pair of service aces in the match.
Moore would also be named to the Bill Brandes Memorial Invitational, all-tournament team.
