Tigers Take But One Loss in Each of Their First Two Tournaments

Monica McDonald

Sarah Yuskewich

Not to be outdone the Tiger volleyball team has also gotten off to its usual flying start this season. Through two tournaments, they have a 6-2 record under some of the most outstanding competition any NCAA Division III team has faced nationally. The Tigers, of course, are aiming for their sixth consecutive NCAC championship after finishing 8-0 last season.

The first tournament of the season was hosted by Great Lakes Region nemesis Mount St. Joseph, and the Tigers came so close to pulling out a championship there, going 3-1 en route to a second-place finish for a second straight year. The first match was a convincing 3-1 victory over Baldwin-Wallace. Star players in the match were sophomore outside hitter Monica McDonald (Newark, Ohio/Catholic), who had her best match of the tournament statistically with 20 kills. Also impressive was the play of sophomore setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson), who picked up where she left off a year ago in contributing 54 assists. Senior outside hitter Teresa Murphy(Blacklick, Ohio/Newark Catholic) added 33 digs.

The host Mountie Lions were the only stumbling block for the weekend. In a closely contested match, the home team emerged with a 3-2 victory that featured five tight games. Yuskewich had her best match statistically with 56 assists and the usual supporting cast played well, as McDonald and Murphy topped the team in kills and Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) added 25 digs.

The Tigers bounced back from the loss to rout Savanah College of Art and Design. The usual suspects were again prominent as McDonald finished with 14 kills, Yuskewich with 44 assists and Schmid with 19 digs.

The fourth and final match was another credible victory against Emory, usually a top contender nationally, by game scores of 30-23, 30-27 and 30-28. The results left Wittenberg with a mark of 3-1 and Sarah Yuskewich was named to the all-tournament team.

The second tournament provided a similar story line. Wittenberg again went 3-1, but this time they did it against unfamiliar NCAA Division II opponents. Their first match against Southern Arkansas resulted in a 3-2 win Yuskewich continued to improve on the previous weekend, contributing 69 assists. McDonald added a remarkable 26 kills and Murphy chipped in with 26 digs.

Their winning streak continued as the Tigers exhibited some stingy defense and conceded no games in a shutout victory of the University of Texas A&M-Kingsville. McDonald led the way with 14 kills.

The host team, the University of West Florida was again another narrow victory, as the Tigers claimed a 3-2 decision. The 15-9 final game score secured the win for Tigers and assured that they went on to the tournament final. Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw), the 2001 NCAC Player of the Year, was outstanding as usual in the middle with 10 kills to go along with McDonald's 25 kills and Yuskewich's 65 assists.