Katie Sumner

HOLLAND, Mich. - For the first time in a decade, the Wittenberg Tigers were knocked out of the NCAA Division III Tournament in the first round, falling to Calvin College by a 3-0 score in a match played at Hope College.

Wittenberg's last first round national tournament loss came in 1999, when the Tigers lost 3-1 to Thomas More College in a match played at Central College (Iowa). Wittenberg also lost the only match it played in the 2001 NCAA Division III Tournament, but that was a second-round match against Ohio Northern University in a match played at the College of Mount St. Joseph. The Tigers had received a first-round bye to reach that match.

Since 1999, Wittenberg reached the Round of 16 in 2000 and 2003, the national quarterfinals in 2002 and 2004, and the national semifinals in 2005, 2006 and 2007, an astounding run of success. The Tigers finished the 2009 campaign with a 24-8 record after winning the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship with a perfect 16-0 regular season record and the NCAC Tournament.

Wittenberg jumped out to early leads in each of the first two sets, but Calvin, which lost 3-2 to the Tigers in September, rallied back quickly both times. In the opener, Wittenberg led 12-8 after four straight service points by senior setter Erin Slattery (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston), but the Knights, who had lost the last two NCAA Division III Tournament matches between the two programs (in 2005 and 2006), responded with five of the next six points. The two teams battled back and forth the rest of the way before Calvin broke a 22-22 tie with three of the last four points for a 25-23 victory.

An early 6-3 lead evaporated in the second set in much the same way, but this time Calvin started pulling away earlier, breaking an 8-8 tie with four straight points. The Tigers could get no closer than two points the rest of the way in a 25-22 loss.

The third set followed an eerily similar script as the Tigers were unable to hold an 8-6 lead. Calvin pulled out to a 21-17 lead and held on for a 25-21 win.

The final statistics show a match that was closer than the final score would indicate. The Tigers attacked at a .259 clip, compared to .321 for Calvin. The teams split 90 kills evenly, but Wittenberg made five more attacking errors and made two less digs.

Individually, Wittenberg was led on offense by sophomore Katie Sumner (Dublin, Ohio/Watterson), who contributed 10 kills against just one error in 23 attack attempts for a stellar .391 attack percentage. Sophomore Kimmie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) added nine kills and sophomore Christine Simpson (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) chipped in with eight. Freshman setter Jordan Mungovan (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) led with 20 assists, while Slattery added 18 assists.

The defense was spearheaded by freshman libero Christina Gilene (Milford, Ohio/McNicholas) with 10 digs, while Dyer finished with nine. Simpson and sophomore Hillary Monnin (Russia, Ohio/Russia) led with two blocks apiece.