Wittenberg Women's Volleyball: 2016 Season Review

OVERVIEW

• NCAC Coaches predicted the Tigers as favorites for the 2016 season with a total of 81 points in the pre-season poll.
• A youthful Tiger group, Wittenberg faced a non-conference schedule with some of the nations most talented and ranked teams. 
• The Tigers produced wins against ranked teams such as; #1 California Lutheran, #2 Juniata, #9 Christopher Newport, #17 Christopher Newport, and #21 Carnegie Mellon in 2016.
• Pam Evans Smith Arena played host to a rematch of national title game from 2015 during the Wittenberg Fall Classic, as Wittenberg came ready to take on #1 California Lutheran, downing the defending national champions 3-1.
• Wittenberg concluded their NCAC regular season with a 3-0 win over Oberlin, locking up the NCAC Regular Season Title, as the team went unblemished in NCAC play for the sixth straight season.
• The Tigers cruised past Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw to win the NCAC Tournament on November 5.
• The NCAC Title was the team's 10^th straight, and 22^nd overall in league play.
• The Tigers were selected to play in the NCAA Division III Tournament, and traveled to #1 Calvin College, where the Tigers defeated Bethany 3-0 before falling to Millikin 3-2.

ACCOLADES

• Maddie Fischer… Earned all tournament team nod at ASICS Invitational… Received NCAC Player of the Week honors… Received All-NCAC First-Team… Earned tournament MVP honors at the 2016 NCAC Tournament against DePauw… Calvin College Regional All-Tournament Team… AVCA Division III First-Team All-American… Sixth different Tiger to earn AVCA All-American First Team Honors… Finished 2016 with 3.52 kills per-set, .251 hitting % and 1.71 digs per-set
• Aubrey Cox… Named NCAC Newcomer of the Year, after finishing the 2016 season with the top hitting percentage in the NCAC… Received All-NCAC First-Team… Received AVCA Great Lakes Region Freshman of the Year…AVCA Division III Freshman of the Year…AVCA Division III Honorable Mention All-American
• Cox joins Wittenberg great Kara Seidenstricker as the second- Freshman of the Year under Coach Labrador's guidance.
• Camila Quiñones… Earned all-tournament team nods at both Mount Union Invitational and ASICS Invitational… Earned Honorable Mention All-NCAC honors.
• Karen Wildemann… Earned honorable mention All-NCAC honors… Received AVCA All-Region honorable mention.

COACH LABRADOR

• After 13 years of coaching at Wittenberg and a handful of NCAC coach of the year awards, Coach Paco Labrador was inducted into Miami of Ohio's Prestigious Cradle of Coaches in September.
• Miami's Cradle of Coaches includes 21 National Coaches of the Year recipients at both the collegiate and professional levels.
• Notable coaches include: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Ron Zook, John Pont, Randy Ayers, Thad Matta, John Harbaugh, and Sue Ramsey.
• Coach Labrador holds a master of science from Miami University in sport studies, which he earned in 1997. He came to Wittenberg after four years as an assistant coach at Miami University, where he was active in all phases of the program, including scouting and game preparation, recruiting, skill development and summer camps.
• Labrador is the winningest coach in all of NCAA Division III collegiate volleyball and second across all divisions (.868 winning percentage).
• Just concluding his 13^th season at the helm for the Tigers, Labrador has accumulated 37 NCAA Division III tournament wins including one National Championship title (2011) and one National Championship Runner-Up title (2015).
• Labrador has also earned multiple top coaching honors, including; two Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year awards (2004, 2007) and seven NCAC Coach of the Year awards.