The Dragons (6-4 overall, 1-1 G-MAC) earned their first conference victory on Sunday afternoon over Kentucky Wesleyan College (2-9, 1-2) in a five-set nail-biter, 3-2 (20-25, 25-15, 19-25, 25-23, 15-13).

Tied 12-12 in the first set, an 8-2 run by the Panthers earned them a six-point advantage. Tiffin would be unable to recover from the deficit as Kentucky Wesleyan took the first set.

The Dragons held a 8-7 lead in the following set before a kill by Alivia Rew followed by a service ace from Katelyn Owens kick-started a 7-2 run. With a 17-13 lead later on, another big run by Tiffin fueled it to win the set and tie the match at one apiece.

Set number three saw the Dragons take an early advantage which was quickly erased after Kentucky Wesleyan caught fire and rattled off a huge 10-1 run. The Panthers went on to take a 2-1 lead for the match.

The back-and-forth continued as KWC held a 20-17 lead late in the fourth set. The Panthers were looking good for the victory before the Dragons took the lead after a 4-0 run that included a kill by Kaylee Freund. Once again tied at 23, a kill by Rew followed by one from Kenedi Goon made it 2-2 and forced a fifth set.

The final set was very tight as both sides battled for every point. Tied 10-10, Tiffin scored three-in-a-row on a kill by Wakaya Wilson, a KWC attack error, and another kill from Goon. The Panthers fought back to within one at 14-13 but a bad set handed the Dragons their first G-MAC win.

Both Goon and Wilson earned double-doubles with kills and digs. Goon led the team in both categories with 13 kills and 16 digs while Wilson ended with 10 kills and 11 digs. Addison Conti also recorded a double-double with 33 assists and 14 digs. Olivia Karhoff posted 15 digs with Freund tallying eight total blocks followed by Goon with seven and Rew with five.

Next up, the Dragons will travel to Ohio Dominican for a match on Friday, September 22nd at 6 p.m.