SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg University volleyball team hosts the Wittenberg National Volleyball Invitational this weekend, featuring the usual array of high-quality competition. Four teams will take to the court beginning at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, with action wrapping up with matches at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30. Each team will play once on Friday and twice on Saturday, with action running on two courts in Wittenberg's HPER Center the second day.

Along with host Wittenberg, competing in this year's national invitational are perennial powerhouse programs Juniata, John Carroll and Georgetown (Ky.). Juniata, traditionally one of the best teams in NCAA Division III, opens the season ranked No. 3 in the preseason American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. Wittenberg is ranked No. 11, while John Carroll is unranked in Division III, and Georgetown is unranked in NAIA, despite returning all six starters from a young team that went 25-8 a year ago.

Wittenberg has two more home invitational tournaments on the schedule this season: the traditional Wittenberg Invitational Sept. 26-27 and the Wittenberg National Invitational II Oct. 10-11. Wittenberg, Calvin, Defiance, Ithaca, Ohio Northern, Thomas More, Franklin and Hope are all scheduled to participate in the Wittenberg Invitational. Joining the host Tigers, winners of six straight North Coast Athletic Conference titles and the preseason favorite to add a seventh straight under first-year Head Coach Paco Labrador, in the Wittenberg National Invitational II are Elmhurst, Baldwin-Wallace, Mount St. Joseph, Wartburg, Washington University, Muskingum and St. Thomas. Every team in the latter tournament is ranked in the preseason top 25.

The Tigers are coming off one of the best seasons in school history. After winning the NCAC regular season and tournament titles in 2002, Wittenberg won the first NCAA Division III regional championship in school history before falling to eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater in the national quarterfinals. The 34 wins earned by the 2002 squad matched a school record. The 2003 team returns four starters from that team, including All-Americans Monica McDonald and Sarah Yuskewich.

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