Tigers Avenge Last Year's Season-Ending Loss

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - As an athlete, there are moments in your career when you will only get one chance to do something great. This was one of those opportunities for the Wittenberg Tigers. Playing in front of packed stands, Wittenberg sought revenge for last season's heartbreaking regional final loss suffered at the hands of Ohio Northern. The Tigers did not squander their opportunity, defeating the seventh-ranked Polar Bears 3-0. The win solidified the Tigers claim to the No. 1 ranking in the Great Lakes Region, as well as their No. 2 ranking in the nation. The Tigers are now 13-1 on the season and 3-0 in the Wittenberg Invitational II.

It was a hard-fought battle for the Tigers, but they were up to the challenge. In Game 1, the Tigers jumped out to an early lead and held off the Polar Bears to win 30-25. Game 2 showed why these two teams are considered among the best in the nation, as they treated the crowd to an excellently played game. Like two prize-fighters, the Tigers and Polar Bears exchanged blows throughout the game. Ohio Northern opened the biggest lead of the game at 29-26 and found themselves just one point away from evening up the match. After a timeout taken by Wittenberg, the Tigers fought off six seperate game points and came all the way back to steal the game, 33-31. And just like that Wittenberg found itself in a very familiar situation, up 2-0 in games and needing just one more game to defeat the Polar Bears. Not wanting a repeat of last year's regional final, where Wittenberg was up 2-0 on Ohio Northern only to see the Bears storm back to steal the match, it was important for the Tigers keep up the pressure. They did just that, jumping out to an early lead in Game 3 and holding on to win, 30-22.

Several Tigers turned in outstanding performances in the winning effort. Offensively, the Tigers had three players with double figures in kills. Senior Kristin Fox led with 19 kills, while junior Emily Dixon put away 15 balls. Senior Monica McDonald continued her stellar tournament play with her third double-double in two days; she finished with 10 kills and 23 digs in the match. Senior Sarah Yuskewich again proved superior at the net, dishing out a tournament high 58 assists.

In the wake of Yuskewich's record breaking week, another Tiger made her claim to the Wittenberg, as well as the NCAC record books. Senior Emilie Schmid's game high 35 digs pushed her over the 2,000-mark for her career. She became only the second player in Tiger history and only the fifth player in NCAC history to record more than 2,000 digs in a career. Her 2,019 career digs places her second in Tiger history and fifth in NCAC history. Schmid needs only 166 more digs to surpass former Tiger Beth Green '93 as the all-time leader in digs for Wittenberg and only 199 more to surpass Joy Kosiewicz (Allegheny '94) as the all-time conference leader.

The Tigers are back in action today at 3:30 p.m. when they will conclude tournament action against another Ohio Athletic Conference foe, Baldwin Wallace. A win for the Tigers will give them their fourth tournament title of the season.