Box Score Springfield, Ohio - DePauw battled back from a 2-1 deficit in its North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal match with Hiram, but the Terriers won the decisive fifth set for a 3-2 (20-25, 25-18, 25-23, 20-25, 15-11) win over the Tigers. Hiram improved to 23-4, while DePauw dropped to 17-10.
The Tigers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the opening set and never trailed to take a 1-0 lead. Hiram led by as many as 10 points in the second and held off a late DePauw run to even the match.
The third set was back-and-forth early before the Terriers put together a 14-3 run to grab a 24-15 lead. DePauw fought off eight straight set points to close to 24-23, but Hiram's Madison Fortune gave her team the 2-1 lead with a kill for the final point.
DePauw held a narrow 14-13 advantage in the fourth before scoring five of the next six points and the Terriers got no closer than four points in the set as the Tigers knotted the match at 2-2.
Hiram held a 5-4 edge in the fifth and ran off four straight to take control as the Tigers got no closer than three the rest of the way.
DePauw outhit Hiram, .187-.163 and held a 57-50 advantage in kills, but the Terriers held an 11-9 edge in aces and led in blocks, 7-4.5.
Suzanne Peters paced DePauw with 21 kills while hitting .315 and Morgan Stearley followed with 15 kills. Ally Low assisted on 49 of the kills, while Jenna Purichia and Stearley each had four aces. Kaylee Nichols paced the team with 23 digs with Purichia adding 21.
