Kristin Fox (32) is Wittenberg's leader in kills in 2003.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio The Wittenberg volleyball team has participated in the NCAA Division III Tournament in each of the last eight years and nine times overall. However, never have the Tigers won a national title, hence the motto regularly heard around the HPER Center,">
The Tigers are hoping to take care of that business in the 2003 NCAA Division III Tournament, which opens on Thursday with eight regional tournaments around the nation. Wittenberg, ranked No. 5 in the nation in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, will host the Great Lakes Regional at the HPER Center. Play opens on Thursday with preliminary round matches between Alma College and Thomas More College at 4:30 p.m. and Ohio Northern University and Chatham College at 7 p.m. On Friday, the winner of the Ohio Northern/Chatham match advances to play Mount St. Joseph and the Alma/Thomas More winner advances to play Wittenberg at 7 p.m.
The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament with three straight victories in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament last week, all by 3-0 margins. Wittenberg, which improved to 27-6 overall, has now won 51 straight NCAC regular season matches, dating back to Oct. 18, 1997 and at Case Western Reserve, and 21 consecutive NCAC Tournament matches, dating back to a loss to Ohio Wesleyan in the 1996 championship match. Wittenberg has also won seven straight regular season and tournament titles.
Wittenberg is hoping to extend the successes of a year ago, when the Tigers finished 34-8 overall and won the first Great Lakes Regional title in school history. Wittenberg lost to eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater in the national quarterfinals a year ago after defeating Ohio Northern and Mount St. Joseph in regional tourney matches at the HPER Center.
Individually, Wittenberg has been led by junior setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson), a first-team All-America selection in 2002 who was named NCAC Tournament MVP on Saturday. She leads the team and conference, and ranks fifth in the nation, in assists per game at 12.79, a year after she set an NCAA Division III record with 2,125 assists in a season. Yuskewich broke the school record for assists in a career earlier this season. In addition, junior liberoEmilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) ranks first in the conference and third in the nation with 7.40 digs per game, and she is on pace to set a school record for digs in a season. She and junior Kristin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion), the team leader in kills, were named to the all-tournament team for their play last week.
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