SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Despite terrific weather on a pristine Homecoming Weekend, a sizeable horde of faithful Tiger fans were inside Pam Evans Smith Arena cheering on the Wittenberg volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Hiram.
The win is fourth-ranked (AVCA) Wittenberg's 50th consecutive regular season victory in North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) competition, and 13th overall this season, and comes as junior right-side hitter Kara Seidenstricker (London, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) racked up her 1,000th career kill.
The Tigers clinched at least a share of the NCAC regular season title as well as home-court advantage for the league tournament, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7, and Saturday, Nov. 8.
The Tigers won on set scores of 25-17, 25-12, 25-27 and 25-11, hitting .643 as a team in the first set, .333 in the second and third, and .560 in the fourth.
Seidenstricker notched her milestone kill in the third set when she found the floor for the 13th time in the match. She would go on to finish the match with 16 kills and no errors in 28 attempts for an impressive attack percentage of .571, which is good enough to register as the seventh-best percentage for a Tiger with more than 20 attempts in a match since the switch to 25-point scoring in 2008.
Sophomore outside hitter Camila Quiñones (Sunbury, Ohio/Worthington Christian) also posted eye-popping numbers, registering 16 kills in 31 attempts for a percentage of .516, which is the seventh-best hitting percentage among Tigers with more than 30 attempts in a single match all-time.
Seidenstricker and Quiñones led a quarter that put an absolutely relentless attack on Hiram. Joined by sophomore middle hitter Kendall Farmer (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) and middle hitter Emily Kahlig (Coldwater, Ohio/Coldwater), the group had just one total error between the four of them in 96 attempts for 53 total kills, an incredible .542 hitting percentage.
Farmer had 10 kills and one error in 19 attempts for a hitting percentage of .474, and Kahlig put together a line of 11 kills, 18 attempts and a .611 percentage.
In the other facets of the game, Seidenstricker led the team with 17 digs, followed by 15 by junior defensive specialist/outside hitter Kristina Fultz (Batavia, Ohio/Glen Este), and senior Meghan Vodopich (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Perry) and sophomore Courtney Huck (Decatur, Ill./St. Teresa) split the setting duties nearly evenly with 29 and 25, respectively.
The Tigers are back at it on short rest tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 25, hosting a tri-match in which they welcome Allegheny for a 1 p.m. match and Marietta at 5 p.m., with the Gators and Pioneers facing off at 3 p.m.
John Strawn '07