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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers overcame a slow start to capture an inspiring 3-1 victory over Juniata to cap the opening night of the 2010 Wittenberg Fall Classic.
Playing before a raucous home crowd, including many supporters decked out in their Halloween costumes, the third-ranked Tigers improved to 26-2 overall. The scene was reminiscent of a match played almost three years to the day earlier, when then-No. 1 ranked Wittenberg completed a perfect 32-0 regular season with a 3-1 victory over then-No. 2 Juniata.
Juniata, which lost for the second time in its last four matches, dropped to 26-4 overall. The Golden Eagles, winners of two national titles in the last six years under legendary head coach Larry Bock, were ranked No. 1 until losing to Emory on Oct. 22.
After jumping out to a 5-1 lead to start the match, the Tigers were soundly beaten in the opening set, 25-16. Juniata attacked at a .324 clip, in large part thanks to a nearly flawless defensive plan and solid passing that led to quality scoring opportunities. But Wittenberg's nerves seemed to steady in the second set, and the Tigers broke a 7-7 tie with three straight points off Juniata attack errors to spark a 25-22 victory.
In the third set, Juniata initally had the upper hand until the Tigers picked up a spark in the form of junior outside hitter Hillary Monnin (Russia, Ohio/Russia). Down 8-4, Wittenberg won five of the next six points to draw even. From that point, the two squads played a tense back-and-forth set, culminating in a block on the deciding point by the Tiger tandem of junior Kimmie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) and junior Katie Sumner (Dublin, Ohio/Watterson) to cap a 25-23 victory.
Then the unexpected happened. Wittenberg dominated the final set, streaking out to a big lead and then coasting, at one point getting give straight service points from junior Hannah Riley (Minerva, Ohio/Minerva). Fittingly, Monnin banged home match point for a 25-9 decision. Wittenberg's attack percentages were .341 in the third set and .400 in the fourth, with 30 kills against just four errors in 71 attack attempts.
Individually, the offense was paced by Dyer and Sumner with 13 kills each, with Sumner leading both teams with a .500 attack percentage to go along with three blocks. Monnin added four kills against no errors in just nine swings to go along with nine clutch digs and eight reception attempts without an error. Also of note, senior Amy Cox (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) was tremendous with 46 assists, three kills and seven digs and sophomore libero Christina Gilene (Milford, Ohio/McNicholas) was strong on defense with 22 digs.
The Tigers are back at it Saturday with matches at 10 a.m. against Mount St. Joseph and 5:30 p.m. against Carnegie Mellon. Those two teams played the Classic's first match, with the Lions claiming a 3-0 victory.