Tigers Cruise Past Wheaton In Washington U. Opener

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The second of three straight weekend tournaments filled with top-quality competition to open the 2014 season started off well enough for the Wittenberg Tigers, who picked up a 3-0 victory over Wheaton (Ill.) at the Washington University/ASICS National Invitational.

The win moved the fifth-ranked Tigers to 3-1 on the 2014 season, heading into a challenging second day at Washington University's loaded tourney. Wittenberg will open with Southwestern (Tex.) at 11:30 a.m. (EST) before squaring off the nationally ranked host team at 1:30 p.m. (EST) on Saturday.

Against Wheaton, the Tigers started slowly, falling behind 7-5 in the opening set. Wittenberg then reeled off eight of the next 10 points to take the lead. After Wheaton battled back to take a 20-19 lead, Wittenberg again heated up, culminating with a pair of kills by junior Kara Seidenstricker (London, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) that secured a 25-23 victory.

From there, Wittenberg rolled to victories in sets two and three by scores of 25-13 and 25-14. After attacking at a .186 percentage in the opening set, the Tigers were tremendously efficient the rest of the way, attacking at .308 and .312 in the second and third frames.

Individually, Wittenberg was paced by Seidenstricker with 16 kills and a .414 attack percentage. Sophomore Emily Kahlig (Coldwater, Ohio/Coldwater) added 11 kills on just 17 swings, and senior setter Meghan Vodopich (Canton, Ohio/Perry) dished out 32 assists. Defensively, the Tigers were led by senior libero Kiah Murray (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) with 12 digs.

Written By: Ryan Maurer