Tigers Take Another First Place Tournament Win

Monica McDonald

Sarah Yuskewich

Perfect. Thats what the Wittenberg volleyball team has been in the North Coast Athletic Conference since 1997. Thats what the Tigers were again last weekend as they crushed Oberlin and Wooster in an NCAC tri-match hosted by the Yeowomen.

Currently riding a nine-match winning streak and coming off a first-place finish against a loaded field in the Wittenberg Invitational, the Tigers, ranked No. 13 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III poll, posted a pair of shutout victories over Oberlin and Wooster. Not only has Wittenberg not yielded a match in conference action since 1997, they havent given up a single game in one of those matches in at least three years.

Oberlin was the first victim, as the visiting Tigers allowed just 48 points in the entire match, winning 30-19, 30-11, 30-18. It was more of the same against Wooster, as the Tigers allowed the same number of points in claiming a 30-22, 30-14, 30-12 victory.

With just three NCAC matches left in the regular season, the Tigers star players continue to shine. On attack, sophomore outside hitter Monica McDonald (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) leads with 340 kills in her 73 games, as well as 51 service aces. A 2001 All-NCAC and All-Great Lakes Region selection, McDonald leads the conference in kills per game and ranks among the top 20 nationally in the category as well. Senior middle hitter Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw), the NCAC Player of the Year in 2001 and last weeks Player of the Week, is second with 221 kills, closely followed by Lindsay Nelson (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw) with 211.

Sophomore setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) has been nothing short of outstanding setting up the kill experts. She has contributed 1,094 out of the Tigers 1,113 assists, easily the best in the NCAC and among the top five in the nation. Sophomore Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) has done a great job on the defensive end for the team, leading with 296 digs, while senior Teresa Murphy (Blacklick, Ohio/Newark Catholic), tops on the team in the category the last three years, checks in with 283 digs.

The Tigers next match is an NCAC game at Ohio Wesleyan before four outstanding teams invade the HPER Center for this weekends Wittenberg National Invitational. Joining the Tigers in this Homecoming weekend competition are Nazareth, Baldwin-Wallace, Thomas More and Rochester Institute of Technology.