Wittenberg Volleyball Open 2023 Season At Gio Invitational

Baltimore, MD – The No. 19 Wittenberg Women's Volleyball team opened their season from the Gio Invitational hosted by Johns Hopkins University. The Tigers went 1-2 on the weekend to begin their season, picking up their first win with a 3-0 sweep of Beloit (25-14, 25-10, 25-15). Wittenberg would fall in their final two matches of the weekend, playing a pair of top 25 opponents. The Tigers dropped their first match on day two against No. 1 Juniata College, 3-1 (21-25, 29-31, 25-16, 25-17). Wittenberg would return to the court for their final match of the weekend, taking on host and their second top 25 opponent of the day, falling to Johns Hopkins in a five-set thriller, 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 25-18, 17-25, 8-15).

2022 All-American, Tyler Linkhart returned to form putting down 31 kills in the opening weekend averaging 2.8 kills/set. Piper Ricketts tallied a team-high nine service aces on the weekend, adding 27 kills through three matches. Jenna van der Biezen added eight aces from the service line in her Wittenberg debut, contributing 12 assists to her stat line. Mack Ricketts comes off an All-America performance from a year ago facilitating the Tiger offense, logging 78 of Wittenberg's 118 assists on the weekend. Ally White came up with a team-high 41 digs throughout the weekend, adding six aces.

Alana Bartulovic (14), Kait Colahan (13) and Kendall Black (12) each finished with double-digit kills on the weekend. Colahan would prove to be a presence at the net providing 10 blocks with two solo stuffs.

As a team, Wittenberg put together a .214 hitting percentage through their first three matches, averaging 10.75 kills/set.

UP NEXT: Wittenberg will return to action on Friday and Saturday, September 8-9, hosting the NCAC/MIAA Challenge. Over the weekend, the Tigers will take on Calvin, Hope and Albion.