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WOOSTER, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers swept two more North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) opponents on the second and final day of the second 2011 NCAC Power Weekend to move within one game of clinching at least a share of their sixth straight regular season title.
Wittenberg had some struggles in the first set against winless Oberlin before claiming a 3-0 win by set scores of 27-25, 25-8, 25-5. The Tigers followed that up with a 3-0 win over DePauw by set scores of 25-13, 25-12, 25-16 behind an offensive effort that was "as sharp as I've seen a Wittenberg team play." The wins moved fourth-ranked Wittenberg to 24-2 overall and 13-0 in the NCAC with three matches remaining, and they extended the Tigers' streak of consecutive 3-0 sweeps to 10 in a row since a 3-2 loss at Otterbein on Oct. 1.
Against Oberlin, the offense was powered by senior Kimmie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) with 11 kills on 18 swings for a stellar .611 attack percentage. Even more efficient was the play of senior Miranda Sagle (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) (eight kills, .727 attack percentage) and junior Jessica Batanian (Sylvania, Ohio/Notre Dame) (seven kills, .667 attack percentage). The trio was credited with just one attacking error in 38 attempts in the match.
Freshman Meghan Vodopich (Canton, Ohio/Perry) added three aces and 15 assists, while junior Hallie Donathan (Tipp City, Ohio/Tippecanoe) chipped in with 14 assists.
It was more of the same for the Tigers against DePauw as senior Katie Sumner (Dublin, Ohio/Watterson) was red-hot with 10 kills on just 13 swings without an error. Dyer added nine kills on 19 attempts without an error, and senior Hannah Riley (Minerva, Ohio/Minerva) finished with eight kills in 18 attempts.
Defensively, junior Christina Gilene (Milford, Ohio/McNicholas) led with 14 digs, backed by Riley with nine digs.
Wittenberg returns home with an opportunity to clinch a share of the 2011 NCAC title — which would be the Tigers' 16th in the last 17 years — against Denison on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Follow all the action live online with the Tiger Sports Network, which will offer live audio, video and statistics.