Tigers Take Four of Five Games on the Road

Tiffany Keller	Monica McDonald	Sarah Yuskewich

The Tigers have ranked among the nation's elite for several years, but last weekend at the Trinity (Texas) Invitational coach Connie Surowicz hopes her team enjoyed a breakthrough of sorts.

With a fourth straight outright regular season North Coast Athletic Conference championship already sewn up, the Tigers hit the road for one last time in the regular season and came away with three wins in four matches, including a pair of victories over teams ranked in the top five nationally.

Wittenberg defeated Texas Lutheran in three sets to open action, then beat No. 2 ranked Juniata in five and No. 3 Wartburg in five before finally running out of steam against the host team, ranked No. 5, in another grueling five-setter.

It was the fourth time this year that Wittenberg had made it to the final match of a round robin regular season tournament without a loss, only to be denied the crown. The Tigers also lost in the final match at Mt. St. Joseph, Elmhurst and in their own tournament earlier this year.

Junior middle hitter Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw continued her impressive play, pounding 46 kills in 89 total attempts, good for a phenomenal .463 attack percentage. She also paced the team in blocks with 19. Her outstanding performance earned her recognition as NCAC Player of the Week.

A pair of freshman also continued to play well as the season heads toward what the Tigers hope is another exciting conclusion. Outside hitter Monica McDonald (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) led the team in kills over the weekend and continues to rank among the conference's best in that category. Setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) had more than 70 assists in one of the matches and leads the team with more than eight per game this season.

Wittenberg is back in action this week as the probable host team of the NCAC Tournament. Oberlin, the eighth seed, comes calling in quarterfinal action on Tuesday. A win against the Yeowomen will earn the top-seeded Tigers the right to host the semifinals and finals of the tournament over the weekend, with action getting underway on Friday at 5 p.m.