Tigers Complete Three-Match Sweep To Capture Wittenberg National Invitational

Katie Sumner

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Only 12 hours after a season-opening victory over American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) preseason No. 8 ranked St. Thomas, the Wittenberg volleyball team handed No. 14 Wisconsin-Whitewater a straight sets loss by scores of 25-19, 25-20 and 28-26. The Tigers capped their weekend with a 3-1 win over California Lutheran, the top team in the "Others Receiving Votes" category of the AVCA poll, to win the Wittenberg National Invitational.

Cal Lutheran started off strong with a 25-17 win in their first set against St. Thomas in the 12:30 contest, but three straight wins for St. Thomas by scores of 25-22, 25-19 and 25-14 gave the Tommies the match.

Down 2-0 in the 2:30 p.m. matchup, St. Thomas rattled off the first 12 points of the third set before a service error gave Wisconsin-Whitewater the ball. From there, the Tommies were in control of the set, cruising to a 25-11 win. Whitewater fought back in the fourth and final set, where they won 25-20 and secured the victory.

Playing in the 10 a.m. opening match of Day 2 of the tournament, the Tigers were at first taken off guard by the Warhawk attack. After falling to an early 11-5 deficit in the first set, Wittenberg fought back to a tie at 19-19, and carried the momentum through to win six of the seven points and take the set 25-20.

The Tigers took the second set by a score of 25-19 before the Warhawks re-engaged in the third and caught the Tigers late. At 24-24, the teams traded several points, and it was 26-26 before the Tigers could earn two consecutive rallies and claim the set at 28-26 and the match. Wittenberg has now opened the season with back-to-back straight-sets wins off of AVCA-ranked teams.

Junior middle hitter Katie Sumner (Dublin, Ohio/Watterson) again led the offense with nine kills on .500 hitting, adding six blocks and two aces to the mix. Junior outside hitter Christine Simpson (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) posted five blocks at the net to go with seven kills on .412 hitting. Senior setter Amy Cox (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) earned 37 assists and sophomore libero Christina Gilene (Milford, Ohio/McNicholas) paced the team with 24 digs.

The tournament finale was won by Wittenberg by scores of 25-14, 25-17, 21-25, 25-21. After two dominating sets, the Tigers were extended for the first time in 2010, but they responded by jumping in front early and then holding off the Regals, who pulled to within 21-20 before dropping four of the last five points.

Gilene added another 32 digs and Cox was stellar again with 34 assists. Junior outside hitter Kimmie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) contributed a double-double with 17 digs and 14 kills, while Simpson was also strong with 10 kills and a .316 attack percentage. Rounding things, Sumner chipped in with six kills and a match-high six blocks.

Wittenberg jumps right back into the top-caliber competition next weekend at the Washington University National Invitational in St. Louis, Mo.

All-Tournament Team
Allison Kerr, California Lutheran
Emily Foster, St. Thomas
Sofia Sanchez, Wisconsin-Whitewater
Alyssa Bauer, Wisconsin-Whitewater
Katie Sumner, Wittenberg
Kimmie Dyer, Wittenberg
Amy Cox, Wittenberg (MVP)

Written By: John Strawn '07