The Wittenberg University volleyball team kept going strong in
2003, winning the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season
and tournament championships for a seventh straight year.
The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament with three
straight victories in the North Coast Athletic Conference
Tournament, all by 3-0 margins. Wittenberg ended the 2003 season
with a 51-match NCAC regular season win streak, dating back to Oct.
18, 1997 at Case Western Reserve, and 21 consecutive NCAC
Tournament matches, dating back to a loss to Ohio Wesleyan in the
1996 championship match.
In the NCAA Division III Tournament, the Tigers couldn't quite keep
the magic going. Paired against a red-hot Ohio Northern team in the
Great Lakes Regional championship match, Wittenberg fell 3-2 in one
of the most exciting sporting events this campus has witnessed in
many years. The loss ended Wittenberg's season with a 28-7 overall
record, including a mark of 8-0 in the NCAC.
The NCAA Division III Tournament berth was the Tigers' eighth
straight and ninth in the last 11 years. With a Great Lakes region
semifinal win over Alma and a title match loss to Ohio Athletic
Conference titlist Ohio Northern, Wittenberg's record in postseason
play moved to 7-9 overall.
The Tigers have one regional title to their credit, earned with a
3-0 win over Ohio Northern in the 2002 title match. That year,
Wittenberg fell in the national quarterfinals to eventual national
champion Wisconsin-Whitewater.
After another outstanding season, Tiger players earned plenty of
hardware following the 2003 season.
Junior setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus,
Ohio/Watterson) was the biggest winner for a second
straight year. A year after claiming NCAC Player of the Year honors
and first-team all-conference, All-Great Lakes Region and
All-America, Yuskewich duplicated the feat with the same string of
awards. She finished 2003 with 1,408 assists, tops in the NCAC and
fifth in the nation. In addition, Yuskewich had team-highs of 111
blocks and 41 service aces. Yuskewich is the third Wittenberg
player to garner All-America honors in two different seasons and
the fourth player in school history to attain such national
recognition.
Junior Kristin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) was
decorated for her play as well, and she capped her season with
third-team All-America honors. A middle hitter her first two
seasons in the program, Fox moved to outside hitter early in the
season after injuries left the team shorthanded. She responded by
leading Wittenberg with 421 kills and posting a hitting percentage
of .350, both of which ranked among the best in the NCAC. She was
also a first-team all-conference and first-team All-Great Lakes
Region.
Junior libero Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon
Jackson) was named Honorable Mention All-America after
earning NCAC Libero of the Year and first-team All-Great Lakes
Region honors. Her dig total of 814 easily led the conference while
ranking second nationally.
Senior outside hitter Lindsay Nelson (Massillon,
Ohio/Tuslaw) was named Honorable Mention All-America after
earning second-team All-NCAC and first-team All-Great Lakes Region
honors. She was second on the team with 357 kills and a .292
hitting percentage.
Rounding things out, senior Michelle Emming (West Chester,
Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) earned second-team All-NCAC
honors.
In addition, Yuskewich was named NCAC Tournament MVP. Schmid and
Fox also made the all-tournament team.
Lindsay Nelson was further honored with third-team CoSIDA
Academic All-District IV honors. Out of more than 100 nominees,
including six Tiger players, Nelson was one of 18 individuals so
honored.
As a team, Tiger volleyball carries the best grade point average on
campus. For the 2003 fall semester, the 15 players combined for a
superlative 3.5 grade point average. Ten players were named to the
Dean's List.
The team graduates five seniors, all of whom made significant
contributions to the program. Defensive specialist Beth
Conover (Norwood, Ohio/Purcell Marian) and Jen
Emming (West Chester, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) and Michelle
Emming were among the team leaders in digs in 2003. Conover was the
only player to appear in every game this season. Both Emmings and
Nelson earned four varsity letters. Setter Katie Preuss
(Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) earned two letters in her
career as an important reserve player.
Sarah Yuskewich led the team and conference, and ranked fifth in
the nation, in assists per game at 13.04, a year after she set an
NCAA Division III record with 2,125 assists in a season. Yuskewich
distributed 1,408 assists in the 2003 season, giving her 4,604
assists in her career. She broke the school record for assists in a
career, a mark previously held by Shelli Habegger, who had 4,023 in
1999-2001.
Yuskewich and sophomore middle hitter Emily Dixon
(Granville, Ohio/Granville) both blocked their way into
the record books. Yuskewich's 111 blocks in a season ranks in a
second-place tie in school history, behind only the 119 former
assistant coach Jen Parsons posted in 1993. Dixon finished with 105
blocks, putting her in a tie for fifth-most in a season in school
history.
Emilie Schmid ranked first in the conference and third in the
nation with 7.33 digs per game. Her season total of 814 was 21
short of the school record held by Kim Woodring. For her career,
Schmid has 1,634 digs, good for third on the all-time list. Beth
Green holds the record with 2,185.
Kristin Fox nearly broke a school record in 2003 with an attack
percentage of .350. Fox led the team in kills with career-highs of
421 kills in 945 attempts. She committed just 90 hitting
errors.
Paco Labrador, a 1995 graduate of Hiram College, completed his
first season as the Tigers' head coach. In his first year as a
collegiate head coach, Labrador took over a veteran team and guided
them to the NCAC regular season and tournament titles and a
regional title game berth.