Kate Snead

RICHMOND, Ind. - The Wittenberg Tigers took two more important steps toward another North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season championship with a pair of convincing 3-0 wins over two of their closest pursuers.

Wittenberg defeated Hiram by set scores of 26-24, 25-12, 25-18 and Allegheny by set scores of 25-21, 25-17, 25-20. The Tigers improved to 16-3 overall and 12-0 in the NCAC, with two more matches scheduled for Sunday against conference rivals. If Wittenberg can take care of business against Oberlin and Denison, the Tigers will clinch at least a share of their 12th NCAC title in the last 13 years.

Against Hiram, which extended Wittenberg to five sets a week earlier, the Tigers were paced offensively by senior Kate Snead (Westerville, Ohio/South) with nine kills, followed closely by eight kills apiece from sophomore Christine Simpson (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) and junior Amy Cox (Newark, Ohio/Catholic). Defensively, freshman Christina Gilene (Milford, Ohio/McNicholas) led with 17 digs and sophomore Hannah Riley (Minerva, Ohio/Minerva) added 14 digs.

Against Allegheny, Cox and Snead led with seven kills each. Gilene and Riley finished with identical dig totals as the first match of the day.