Ohio Wesleyan 3, Denison 1

Oct. 4, 2008

Sophomore outside hitter Lainey Kekic (Canfield/Western Reserve) and sophomore outside hitter Stacey Tighe (Lewis Center/Olentangy) contributed timely plays down the stretch to help Ohio Wesleyan defeat Denison in a North Coast Athletic Conference match on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.

Ohio Wesleyan won the match by scores of 26-24, 24-26, 26-24, 25-19, stretching the Bishops' winning streaks to 3 straight NCAC matches and 4 straight contests overall.

In the first set, Kekic ripped a service ace to highlight a 3-0 run that broke a 1-1 tie, and the teams traded points several times before the Bishops built a 16-11 lead on kills by sophomore outside hitter Alexa Bean (Columbus/Upper Arlington) and Kekic. Ohio Wesleyan still led, 20-16, on Tighe's kill when the Big Red came back with 4 straight points, getting an ace from Brooke Beavers and a kill by Sara Mason, to tie the score at 20-20. Kekic smashed a kill to give the Bishops a 24-23 lead and a chance to serve for the set, but Denison's Megan Early kept the Big Red alive with a kill to even the game at 24-24. Tighe answered with a kill through the teeth of a Big Red block before Denison's Sara Mason grazed the antenna with a kill attempt to end the set.

The second set was closely played as well, and while there were fewer instances of trading points back and forth, neither team was able to pull away. When Denison got kills by Early and Beavers during a 4-1 run that broke an 18-18 tie, the resulting 22-19 margin was the biggest lead of the set by either team. Ohio Wesleyan quickly erased that 22-19 deficit, with Kekic and junior outside hitter Kristin Kovach (Chagrin Falls/Kenston) scoring on tips over the Big Red front line before senior middle hitter Janna Dagley (Beavercreek) checked in with a decisive block to tie the set at 22-22. After a tip by Early, the Bishops got a Dagley kill and a Tighe tip for a 24-23 lead and a chance to serve for the match, but again, the Big Red stayed alive, this time courtesy of a kill by Mason, tying the set at 24-24. This time, however, it was Denison which scored the last 2 points of the set, with Kasia Kucharski recording a block and Bean misfiring on a kill attempt, evening the match at a set apiece.

The third set was even closer, with neither team leading by more than 2 points at any point during the action. After a handful of ties and lead changes, the Big Red took a 23-21 lead on Mason's kill only to see Dagley bring the Bishops back with a kill and a block to tie the score. Denison's Morgan Sturgeon answered with a kill for a 24-23 Big Red lead, but serving for the set, Sturgeon lined the ball into the net to tie the score at 24-24. Kekic then stepped up for Ohio Wesleyan, ripping a kill and then tipping the ball into the heart of the Big Red defense to finish off the set and give the Bishops a 2-1 lead.

Dagley and Kovach sparked a 7-1 Ohio Wesleyan run to open the fourth set, with Dagley contributing a tip and a block and Kovach posting a pair of kills, and the Bishops stretched the lead to 10-3 on kills by Kovach and Bean. Denison chipped away at the deficit, closing to within 16-12 with the help of kills by Kucharski, Mason and Early, but Ohio Wesleyan scored the next 3 points, with Dagley recording a tip and Kovach blasting a serve through the hands of Kucharski to give the Bishops a 19-12 lead. Down the stretch, Tighe and Dagley combined for a block, Kekic posted a pair of kills for a 24-18 lead, and Kovach finished off the match with a kill through a Beavers block attempt.

Kovach led the Bishops with 16 kills, while Kekic finished with 15 and Dagley and Bean added 9 apiece. Sophomore setter Sarah Marshall (Lima/Senior) racked up a season-high 45 assists.

Defensive standouts included Dagley, who had 8 blocks; Tighe, who finished with 5 blocks; junior libero Katie Schlaudt (Holland, Mich.), who led the Bishops with 23 digs; and freshman outside hitter Sara Morris (Point White Mountain, Alaska/Mt. Edgecumbe), who added 16 digs.