SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - By the conclusion of a busy weekend of volleyball in Wittenberg's HPER Center, the eighth-ranked Tigers were breathing a sigh of relief. That's not because they had managed to escape every landmine in their six-match week, but because Wittenberg had showed real grit and determination in overcoming less-than-stellar play to finish 5-1, including 3-1 in the second annual Border Battle.
Wins over Alma, Adrian and Hope by scores of 3-0, 3-2 and 3-1 respectively were overshadowed by a 3-1 loss on Friday to rising Great Lakes Region power Calvin. But that loss was Wittenberg's third match of a long Friday, and weary legs, combined with strong challenges from teams representing the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, were a likely culprit. After a disappointing conclusion to the Calvin match, won by the then-unbeaten Knights by game scores of 30-32, 39-37, 30-13, 30-13, the Tigers picked themselves up to claim a pair of hard-fought wins on Saturday.
Against Adrian, the Tigers turned time and again to leading hitter Jackie Williams (Rocky River, Ohio/Magnificat), who finished with a career-high 25 kills in a 36-34, 29-31, 30-22, 25-30, 15-9 victory. While the rest of the team's offense was somewhat out of synch, the Tigers' defense was solid as usual as junior Emily Bell (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) picked up 28 digs and sophomore liberoLaura Fender (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula) added a career-best 49 digs, one of the top totals in school history.
That gutsy performance was followed up by an even more impressive performance in the day's final match, a 27-30, 30-25, 32-30, 30-27 victory over Hope. After dropping the opening game, the Tigers dug deep, rallying from deficits in Games 2 and 3 to slowly pull away. Williams led with 17 kills, but this time she had help on the offensive attack as Bell added 14 kills and junior Jan Kehres (Alliance, Ohio/Alliance) turned in her best performance of the weekend with 13 kills. Bell added 18 digs, Fender topped the squad with 26 digs and junior Caitlin Augustus (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) was solid at the net with five blocks.
On Friday, the Tigers started out with an NCAC victory over Denison. The first Border Battle outing was a 3-0 win over Alma by game scores of 30-25, 30-14, 30-11. Bell finished with 12 kills and Williams and Kehres added 11 kills apiece. Fender added 25 digs and Augustus had five blocks to spark the defense. Then against Calvin, Wittenberg's offense was too spotty as only Williams reached double figures in kills with 18. Defensively, Bell had 34 digs and Fender added 28.