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ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The Wittenberg Tigers went toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in all of NCAA Division III at the ASICS/Washington University National Invitational and emerged with an outstanding 3-1 record over the two-day competition.
Wittenberg improved to 6-1 overall on the still-young 2010 season. Impressively, five of the Tigers' six wins have come against nationally ranked opponents - including all three at the Washington University tournament.
On Friday, the Tigers started with a 3-2 win over No. 18 St. Olaf. In winning by set scores of 25-13, 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 15-11, Wittenberg was paced by senior setter Amy Cox (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) with 34 assists, sophomore libero Christina Gilene (Milford, Ohio/McNicholas) with 20 digs and junior middle hitter Katie Sumner (Dublin, Ohio/Watterson) with 10 kills and four aces.
The Tigers rounded out the opening day with a key Great Lakes Regional victory over No. 9 Ohio Northern, 3-0. Set scores were 25-16, 25-21 and 25-17, as Wittenberg was led by Cox with 25 assists and Gilene with 27 digs. Sumner and junior middle hitter Miranda Sagle (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) added seven kills apiece, while junior outside hitter Kimmie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) led both teams with nine kills.
The sledding was considerably more difficult on Saturday, but the Tigers were up to the challenge in the opener, a 3-2 win over No. 10 Carthage. Set scores were 25-16, 21-25, 22-25, 26-24, 15-10 as the Tigers rallied for the victory behind 37 assists from Cox and 23 digs from Gilene. The offense was sparked by Sumner with 14 kills to go along with five blocks and three aces, in addition to nine kills from junior right-side hitter Christine Simpson (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto). Sumner attacked at a .333 percentage, while Simpson's percentage was .318.
The Tigers capped the weekend with a 3-0 loss to No. 1 Washington University, with set scores of 25-23, 25-23 and 25-17. Cox dished out 27 assists, Simpson led the offense with eight kills, Sagle contributed seven kills and Dyer and Sumner finished with matching totals of six kills apiece.