2004 NCAC Tournament Champions

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers kept on rolling Saturday, taking the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship for an eighth straight year and the 10th time overall in school history with a 3-0 victory over the Hiram Terriers. The win improved the first-seeded Tigers to 33-2 overall after posting a perfect 8-0 record during the NCAC regular season, and second-seeded Hiram dropped to 23-12 overall after posting a 7-1 record during the conference regular season.

It was the 23rd consecutive NCAC Tournament win for the Tigers, dating back to 1996 and a title game loss to Ohio Wesleyan. That goes along with a 59-match NCAC regular season win streak that goes all the way back to 1997 and a loss at Case Western Reserve in five games. For Hiram, which doesn't have a senior on the roster, it was the second straight season that the Terriers lost the title match to Wittenberg on the HPER Center floor.

The Tigers dominated the match throughout, jumping out to big, demoralizing leads in the first two games and then rallying from four points down in the third game behind the serving of senior Aubrey Anderson (five straight points), senior Monica McDonald (four straight points) and senior Kristin Fox (three straight points). Trailing 13-9, Wittenberg reeled off 14 of the next 17 points to take a commanding 23-16 lead. The Tigers, ranked second in the nation, cruised from there, in the process locking up the NCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the eighth straight year. This will be Wittenberg's 10th appearance overall in the "Big Dance."

Individually, Wittenberg finished with an outstanding attack percentage of .287 as three players reached double figures in kills - McDonald and Fox with 13 each and junior Emily Dixon with 12. Senior Sarah Yuskewich topped her season average of 14.21 assists per game as she distributed 45 in the three-game victory, to go along with six block assists. Defensively, senior Emilie Schmid led all players with 26 digs.

Hiram was paced offensively by Shana Toth, who knocked down 12 kills while Megan Taylor distributed 24 assists. Jill Howard led with 13 digs, followed closely by Jen Hlebovy with 11.

The all-tournament team included four Tigers - McDonald, Schmid, Dixon and Yuskewich, the tournament MVP. Hiram placed Toth and Howard on the all-tournament team. Denison's Ellen Price and Wooster's Mary-Kate Fowkes rounded out this year's selections.