Sarah Yuskewich and Tiffany Keller prepare for the next point.

The Wittenberg University Tiger volleyball express continued to steam along in 2002, winning the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles for a sixth straight time each and advancing to a seventh consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament. The Tigers finished with a 34-8 overall record and advanced to the national quarterfinals for the first time in school history before falling to eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater on Nov. 23.

Wittenberg, which was ranked in the national top 20 all season and finished the campaign at No. 3 in the country and No. 1 in the Great Lakes Region, competed against one of the most challenging schedules in the nation in 2002. Of the Tigers eight losses, six came to nationally ranked NCAA Division III teams: Mount St. Joseph, Washington University, Trinity, Baldwin-Wallace and Wisconsin-Whitewater (twice). Wittenberg placed second in three tournaments (Mount St. Joseph, West Florida and Wittenberg Invitational) and captured a huge in-season tourney crown in the Wittenberg National Quad by defeating three nationally ranked teams.

The Tigers closed the 2001 season riding a 43-match regular season NCAC win streak, a figure that balloons to 61 straight when victories in the NCAC tournament are factored in. Wittenbergs last regular season NCAC loss was in October 1997 in five games at Case Western Reserve. The Tigers last defeat in NCAC tournament play came in five games to Ohio Wesleyan in the 1996 championship match.

Wittenberg has claimed eight straight NCAC regular season crowns, including five in a row outright without suffering a defeat. The Tigers also won the conference title in 1993, making the run a phenomenal nine championships in the last 10 years.

In NCAC tournament play, the Tigers have won 18 straight matches since losing in the 1996 title contest to Ohio Wesleyan. Wittenberg has won eight of the last 10 NCAC tourney crowns, including the last six.

The Tigers hosted the Great Lakes Regional of the NCAA Division III Womens Volleyball Tournament Nov. 14-16. Playing in front of a boisterous home crowd, top-seeded Wittenberg captured semifinal and final victories over nationally ranked Ohio Northern and Mount St. Joseph respectively. It was the first regional championship in school history.

Wittenberg has made the national tournament seven straight years and eight overall, including 1993. The Tigers have an overall postseason record of 6-8.

Kristin Fox celebrates an important point.

Sophomore setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) earned NCAC Player of the Year, and Tiger Head Coach Connie Surowicz was named NCAC and Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year.

Yuskewich re-wrote the Wittenberg, NCAC and NCAA Division III record books for assists in a season in 2002. She distributed 2,125 assists in 143 games (14.86 per game average), including three matches in the NCAA tournament, shattering the records for total assists and assists per game that were both previously set by Wittenbergs Shelli Habegger in 2000. Yuskewich was named first-team All-NCAC and Player of the Year, first-team All-Great Lakes Region by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and first-team All-America by the same organization.

Yuskewich was the sixth different Wittenberg player to claim the honor in the last six years. She led Wittenberg to its sixth straight NCAC regular season and tournament championships in 2002. In addition, sophomore outside hitter Monica McDonald (Newark, Ohio/Catholic), the conference leader in kills, and senior middle hitter Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw), last years NCAC Player of the Year and the teams leader in blocks, earned second and third-team All-America status respectively. Both were also first-team All-NCAC and all-region choices.

Senior outside hitter Teresa Murphy (Blacklick, Ohio/Newark Catholic), a three-time first-team All-NCAC honoree, was squeezed off the first team in 2002 and wound up with second team recognition this year. She still finished her career as one of a select few athletes in Wittenberg history to gain all-conference honors four straight years.

Two Tiger volleyball players earned postseason academic awards. Seniors Brittany Baume (Springfield, Ohio/Southeastern) and Tiffany Keller both made second-team Verizon Academic All-District IV College Division Volleyball Team. They were among six Wittenberg players and nearly 100 student-athletes from around the region nominated.

Connie Surowicz ends her ninth year guiding the Tigers with a record of 253-94 at Wittenberg and a career mark of 283-128, including two seasons at Walsh. With a 69-3 NCAC regular season record and the aforementioned 43-match regular season NCAC win streak carried forward another year, Surowicz has established the Tiger program as preeminent in the conference and an annual contender on a national level.

The Tigers have won six straight NCAC regular season and tournament championships and seven in Surowiczs nine years at the helm. The team has also made seven straight NCAA Division III tournament appearances.