From Left: Tiger captains Sarah Matesich, Emily Bell, Jan Kehres, Lindsey Penrod and Caitlin Augustus accept the NCAC Tournament trophy from Keri Luchowski, assistant commissioner of the NCAC, and Wittenberg Assistant Director of Athletics Becky Hall.

Springfield, Ohio — The No. 1 ranked Wittenberg University volleyball team will appear in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the 12th consecutive year and the 13th time in school history. The Tigers open their quest for the first national title in program history at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, against Frostburg State University.

That match - and the other six that are part of the 2007 Great Lakes Regional - will take place in newly re-named Pam Evans Smith Arena in Wittenberg's HPER Center. The Tigers' contest against Frostburg State is the last of four first-round matches scheduled for Thursday, followed by the regional semifinals at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, and the championship match at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. 

The winner of the regional bracket will advance to the national tournament with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals set for Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 15-17, at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill. Wittenberg has reached the national semifinals each of the last two years before losing to Juniata College in both 2005 and 2006.

The Great Lakes Regional figures to be a challenging bracket again in 2006. The Tigers open with Frostburg State, the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) regular season and tournament champion and owner of a 21-10 overall record. The winner of that quarterfinal match will face a stern challenge in Friday's 7 p.m. regional semifinal match against the winner of Rochester Institute of Technology (31-10), the second-place finisher in the Empire 8 Tournament, and Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament runner-up Heidelberg (26-10). Those two teams square off at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

The rest of the regional bracket features nationally ranked OAC regular season and tournament champion Ohio Northern University (27-6) against St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) champion Webster (25-9) at 1 p.m. Thursday, and nationally ranked Hiram (27-5), North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season and tournament runner-up to Wittenberg, against Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) champion Westminster (23-11) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Wittenberg advanced to the 2007 NCAA Division III Tournament by virtue of the NCAC's automatic berth after finishing off the first perfect regular season in school or conference history with a 3-0 win over Hiram on Nov. 3. The Tigers, who compiled records of 34-0 overall and 14-0 in the NCAC, have been ranked No. 1 in the nation each of the last three weeks and sport a 9-0 mark against teams that earned berths in the 2007 NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Tigers are led offensively by three-time first-team All-NCAC outside hitters Emily Bell, class of 2008 from Fort Wayne, Ind., and Jackie Williams, class of 2009 from Rocky River, Ohio, the newly named NCAC Player of the Year. Defensively Bell, outside hitter Jan Kehres, class of 2008 from Alliance, Ohio, and libero Laura Fender, class of 2009 from Toledo, Ohio, each have more than 400 digs on the season. Running the offense for a second straight year are setters Sarah Matesich, class of 2008 from Granville, Ohio, and Erin Slattery, class of 2010 from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, the 2006 NCAC Newcomer of the Year.

Wittenberg is making its 13th NCAA appearance and 12th in a row (1993-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06-07). The Tigers have reached the NCAA Division III Tournament Round of 16 eight times in school history, the national quarterfinals four of the last five years, and the national semifinals each of the last two years. Wittenberg has a 17-12 (.586) overall record in the national tournament.

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