Paige Parker

WOOSTER, Ohio – Paige Parker hit her 999th and 1,000th career kills just a few plays into the first set, and she went on to total a game-high 12 kills in all, but in the end, Denison University powered past The College of Wooster 3-1 in a highly-competitive North Coast Athletic Conference volleyball match-up Tuesday evening at Timken Gymnasium.

The Fighting Scots (5-14, 0-3 NCAC) had played 18 straight matches on the road entering tonight's contest, and Parker and company were eager to host their home opener.

Wooster set the ball Parker's way early, and she responded with two quick kills, with the second giving her 1,000 for her career. Parker became just the seventh player in program history to reach 1,000, and the first since KateLynn Riley accomplished the feat during the 2008 season.

Trailing 5-7 early in the opening set, Parker recorded her third kill, and then served three straight points to give the Scots a 9-7 advantage. Wooster led as late as 13-12, but the Big Red (13-5, 2-1 NCAC) went on a run to go ahead 23-19. The Scots didn't go away, though, as they pulled within 22-24 when Catherine Benton adjusted her body to deliver a sharp-angle kill, but Denison then closed out the set 25-22.  

The second set played out similarly, as the Scots led by four points on several occasions (9-5, 12-8, 14-10, and 20-16), only to see Denison close the gap, and then rattle off seven of the set's last nine points to again eek past Wooster, this time 25-23.

Wooster trailed 13-9 in the third set, but eventually knotted the score at 14-14 after back-to-back kills from Erica Skillman, which gave the Scots momentum and helped them take control. Skillman was again key down the stretch, as she added another kill to give her team a 24-21 lead, and moments later, she went in on a block with Zoe Zwegat to close out a 25-23 victory.

After three closely-contested sets that went down to the wire, the results of the fourth set came as a surprise, as Denison logged a .448 hitting percentage on its way to a comfortable 25-14 margin that gave it a four-set triumph over the Scots.

Parker led the Scots with 12 kills and also added three service aces, while Lydia Webster (11 kills), Skillman (9 kills), and Anna Emmick (5) were also strong contributors to the attack. Also noteworthy, Rachel Sell passed out 11 assists, Kaitlin Banko tallied 20 digs, and Zwegat had eight total blocks (2 solo, 6 assists).

The Scots will be back on the road Saturday when they visit Hiram College (12-5, 2-0 NCAC) at 1 p.m.