SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers will sleep well tonight after steamrolling the Frostburg State Bobcats, 3-0, piling on 58 kills to cap a busy day of four volleyball matches at the university's HPER Center.
Earlier on Thursday, the Heidelberg Fighting Student Princes defeated Rochester Insitute of Technology, placing them directly in the way of the Tiger freight train as their semifinal opponents at 7 p.m. Friday in Pam Evans Smith Arena. Also advancing out of the regional quarterfinals were the Ohio Northern Polar Bears and fellow North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) squad Hiram.
Emily Bell (Fort Wayne, Ohio/Concordia Lutheran) was unstoppable, posting 18 kills and an unbelievable .552 attack percentage. Jan Kehres (Alliance, Ohio/Alliance) followed suit with 11 kills, riding an impressive .417 attack percentage. The relentless front was too much for the Frostburg defense, which tallied just 5 total blocks on the night.
The Bobcats could not find a foothold on offense, posting a hitting percentage of just .008, as compared to Wittenberg's excellent .381. Laura Fender (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula) led the Tiger defense with 24 digs, the highest figure in a 72-dig team effort, stopping almost everything Frostburg could dish out. Jessica Kimble (Dennison, Ohio/Claymont) picked up two solo blocks while the team combined for 8 overall.
Most impressive is the speed with which the Tigers worked. In just one hour and five minutes the Red & White sent the Bobcats packing. The next quickest match of the day was Webster vs. Ohio Northern, the only other 3-game match, which clocked at 1:20. Westminster vs. Hiram was just five minutes short of two hours, without even going five games.
The Tigers, ranked No. 1 in the final three American Volleyball Coaches Association polls while earning all 24 first place votes in each of the last two, improved to 35-0 on the season, carrying a full head of steam into the Heidelberg match Friday. Frostburg State, which was led by Brooke Winterling with 10 kills, Jenny Wheaton with 20 assists and Burke Rachel with 13 digs, ended its season at 21-11 overall.
Written by: John Strawn