2003 Season In Review

The Wittenberg University volleyball team kept going strong in 2003, winning the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships for a seventh straight year.

The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament with three straight victories in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, all by 3-0 margins. Wittenberg ended the 2003 season with a 51-match NCAC regular season win streak, dating back to Oct. 18, 1997 at Case Western Reserve, and 21 consecutive NCAC Tournament matches, dating back to a loss to Ohio Wesleyan in the 1996 championship match.

In the NCAA Division III Tournament, the Tigers couldn't quite keep the magic going. Paired against a red-hot Ohio Northern team in the Great Lakes Regional championship match, Wittenberg fell 3-2 in one of the most exciting sporting events this campus has witnessed in many years. The loss ended Wittenberg's season with a 28-7 overall record, including a mark of 8-0 in the NCAC.

The NCAA Division III Tournament berth was the Tigers' eighth straight and ninth in the last 11 years. With a Great Lakes region semifinal win over Alma and a title match loss to Ohio Athletic Conference titlist Ohio Northern, Wittenberg's record in postseason play moved to 7-9 overall.

The Tigers have one regional title to their credit, earned with a 3-0 win over Ohio Northern in the 2002 title match. That year, Wittenberg fell in the national quarterfinals to eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater.

After another outstanding season, Tiger players earned plenty of hardware following the 2003 season.

Junior setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) was the biggest winner for a second straight year. A year after claiming NCAC Player of the Year honors and first-team all-conference, All-Great Lakes Region and All-America, Yuskewich duplicated the feat with the same string of awards. She finished 2003 with 1,408 assists, tops in the NCAC and fifth in the nation. In addition, Yuskewich had team-highs of 111 blocks and 41 service aces. Yuskewich is the third Wittenberg player to garner All-America honors in two different seasons and the fourth player in school history to attain such national recognition.

Junior Kristin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) was decorated for her play as well, and she capped her season with third-team All-America honors. A middle hitter her first two seasons in the program, Fox moved to outside hitter early in the season after injuries left the team shorthanded. She responded by leading Wittenberg with 421 kills and posting a hitting percentage of .350, both of which ranked among the best in the NCAC. She was also a first-team all-conference and first-team All-Great Lakes Region.

Junior libero Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) was named Honorable Mention All-America after earning NCAC Libero of the Year and first-team All-Great Lakes Region honors. Her dig total of 814 easily led the conference while ranking second nationally.

Senior outside hitter Lindsay Nelson (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw) was named Honorable Mention All-America after earning second-team All-NCAC and first-team All-Great Lakes Region honors. She was second on the team with 357 kills and a .292 hitting percentage.

Rounding things out, senior Michelle Emming (West Chester, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) earned second-team All-NCAC honors.

In addition, Yuskewich was named NCAC Tournament MVP. Schmid and Fox also made the all-tournament team.

Lindsay Nelson was further honored with third-team CoSIDA Academic All-District IV honors. Out of more than 100 nominees, including six Tiger players, Nelson was one of 18 individuals so honored.

As a team, Tiger volleyball carries the best grade point average on campus. For the 2003 fall semester, the 15 players combined for a superlative 3.5 grade point average. Ten players were named to the Dean's List.

The team graduates five seniors, all of whom made significant contributions to the program. Defensive specialist Beth Conover (Norwood, Ohio/Purcell Marian) and Jen Emming (West Chester, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) and Michelle Emming were among the team leaders in digs in 2003. Conover was the only player to appear in every game this season. Both Emmings and Nelson earned four varsity letters. Setter Katie Preuss (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) earned two letters in her career as an important reserve player.

Sarah Yuskewich led the team and conference, and ranked fifth in the nation, in assists per game at 13.04, a year after she set an NCAA Division III record with 2,125 assists in a season. Yuskewich distributed 1,408 assists in the 2003 season, giving her 4,604 assists in her career. She broke the school record for assists in a career, a mark previously held by Shelli Habegger, who had 4,023 in 1999-2001.

Yuskewich and sophomore middle hitter Emily Dixon (Granville, Ohio/Granville) both blocked their way into the record books. Yuskewich's 111 blocks in a season ranks in a second-place tie in school history, behind only the 119 former assistant coach Jen Parsons posted in 1993. Dixon finished with 105 blocks, putting her in a tie for fifth-most in a season in school history.

Emilie Schmid ranked first in the conference and third in the nation with 7.33 digs per game. Her season total of 814 was 21 short of the school record held by Kim Woodring. For her career, Schmid has 1,634 digs, good for third on the all-time list. Beth Green holds the record with 2,185.

Kristin Fox nearly broke a school record in 2003 with an attack percentage of .350. Fox led the team in kills with career-highs of 421 kills in 945 attempts. She committed just 90 hitting errors.

Paco Labrador, a 1995 graduate of Hiram College, completed his first season as the Tigers' head coach. In his first year as a collegiate head coach, Labrador took over a veteran team and guided them to the NCAC regular season and tournament titles and a regional title game berth.