Tigers Bounce Back To Beat Carthage And Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Catherine Farny

WHITEWATER, Wisc. — Coming off their most disappointing result of the 2011 season, the Wittenberg Tigers bounced back in a big way on the second day of the Wisconsin-Whitewater Invitational, cruising past Carthage and Wisconsin-Oshkosh by matching 3-0 scores.

Coming less than 14 hours after the Tigers suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of 22nd-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater, Wittenberg improved to 27-3 overall. Carthage came into the weekend ranked No. 10 nationally.

Against Oshkosh, the Tigers won by set scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-20. Senior Kimmie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) led the offense with 17 kills, backed by senior Christine Simpson (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) with five. Junior Hallie Donathan (Tipp City, Ohio/Tippecanoe) added four aces.

Defensively, senior Katie Sumner (Dublin, Ohio/Watterson) came up with eight blocks and junior Christina Gilene (Milford, Ohio/McNicholas) contributed 19 digs.

The Carthage win was recorded by set scores of 25-19, 25-19, 25-20. Dyer led the offense again with 16 kills and a .342 attack percentage, while senior Catherine Farny (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) added seven kills and four blocks.

Sumner added four blocks to the defensive effort, while Gilene was again tops in digs with 16.

The Tigers put the wraps on the regular season with a road trip to Hiram and Allegheny Oct. 28-29. Wittenberg can clinch the outright North Coast Athletic Conference title with one win in their final two matches.