Catherine Benton

The College of Wooster volleyball team looked like it might upset higher-seeded Denison University in the opening round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for the second year in row, but the Fighting Scots were not able to hang onto their early one-set lead, as the Big Red came back to win 3-1 (21-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-15) on Friday evening at Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield, Ohio.

The Scots (9-22), which earned the sixth seed in the tourney, had No. 3 Denison (20-7) on the ropes early on, as they won the first set, and nearly took the second as well.

Leading 15-12 in the opening set, the Scots gave up a 5-0 scoring run to Denison that put the Big Red on top 17-15. A bit later, the score was knotted at 21-21, but Wooster rattled off the final four points in a row, with Paige Parker's sixth kill of the set giving the Scots a 25-21 victory.

The second set was even tighter than the first, as the teams were tied on 15 different occasions, with neither team ahead by more than one for most of the contest. Finally, with Denison on the brink of winning at 23-20, Laura Sherer and Zoe Zwegat recorded back-to-back kills to draw Wooster within one (23-22). The Scots tied the score at 24-24, and again at 25-25 on a kill from Catherine Benton, but Denison used a kill and a service ace to eke out a 27-25 triumph.

After recording solid .206 and .237 hitting percentages in the first and second set, respectively, the Scots hit below .050 in each of the last two sets, which proved to be too much to overcome. Denison won the last two sets 25-20 and 25-15.

Parker had a productive outing, collecting a team-high 12 kills, which tied for her second-highest output of the season. She also added 12 digs and three service aces.

Also noteworthy, Benton added to her strong second half of the season, as she added nine kills, while Lydia Webster, Zwegat, and Erica Skillman chipped in six apiece, with Skillman contributing a team-high four blocks as well.

Rounding out the stat leaders, Brittany Nicholson totaled 34 assists, Kaitlin Banko had 17 digs, and Rachel Sell matched Parker with three service aces.

Wooster will continue NCAC Tournament action tomorrow, when it plays against No. 7 Kenyon College (2-23) in the consolation semifinals at 10 a.m., and a second opponent later in the afternoon.