WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster twice rallied to tie the match before Thiel College strung together a five-point swing the fifth set to top the Fighting Scots 25-15, 18-25, 25-11, 26-28, 15-11 in the Black and Gold's home opener on Wednesday evening at Timken Gymnasium.

Thiel (2-3) roared out of the gate behind a .409 attack percentage in the first set, but cooled off the rest of the way as Wooster (2-3) regrouped defensively, and held the Tomcats to a .142 mark the rest of the night. Junior Peyton Allen, who went on to have a match-high 21 kills, logged five in the first set, including one at 17-8 to push Thiel's lead out to nine.

Junior Gabrielle Basinski recorded her 1,000th career dig in Wednesday's match versus Thiel.

In the second set, Wooster stormed back, thanks to a set-closing 9-0 swing. The Scots trailed by three early in the set, but rallied back on back-to-back attack errors by the Tomcats. Later, a Wooster service error gave Thiel a two-point cushion at 18-16, but the Tomcats erred on their serve to kick start the run. Wooster's front line took over down the stretch, keyed by two blocks and a kill from junior Ashley Plassard to even up the match.

Thiel strung together a lengthy run of its own to close out the third set, this one a 10-1 stretch. Allen heated back up, and smashed down four of her six third-frame kills during the run to lead the way for the Tomcats.

Both teams had chances to win the fourth set, and strong efforts at the net led the way. First, Thiel's Shelby Friedel and Macy Jordan warded off Wooster's first set point attempt with a block, and two plays later, that was returned with junior Marija Cyvas and sophomore Erica Roberts teaming up for a swat on match point. In fact, a block won Wooster the set as Plassard and Roberts timed up Allen for the set-clincher.

Wooster pulled within one at 11-10 in the fifth set thanks to a Plassard kill, but back-to-back kills off the hand of Shelby Friedel gave the Tomcats some breathing room before Fridel finished the match with her 15th kill of the night.

Ksenia Klue led Wooster with her fourth double-double of the year. The senior outside hitter finished with 12 kills and 11 digs. First-year Meghan Botsch made her presence felt in her first extended collegiate action with 27 assists, eight digs and three kills. Other noteworthy stats included 25 digs by junior Gabrielle Basinski, one of which her the 1,000th of her career.

Thiel had five student-athletes with double-digit digs including 21 each from Alex Geraci and Megan Sweeny.

Next, Wooster travels to Penn State-Behrend for the Northwest Pennsylvania Challenge on Friday and Saturday.