GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan—Wittenberg women's volleyball advanced to the NCAA Division III National Championship match with a 3-0 win over host Calvin. The Tigers swept the Knights on their home floor, as seven of the last eight national title games have now included either Calvin or Wittenberg. With the all-time series now standing at 14-14, the Tigers have a chance to win their second national championship in school history on Saturday night. The Tigers win over Calvin also makes the Tigers 3-3 in national semifinal action all-time. Wittenberg swept through Eastern in 2011 in the Final Four and Hendrix in 2015. Wittenberg will now face Claremont Mudd-Scripps in the 2017 National Championship Match at 7:00 P.M. Saturday, Nov. 18 at Calvin College.
Wittenberg dominated the match, as Calvin only led once on the night. The Tigers dispatched the Knights 25-19, 25-20 and 25-17. Wittenberg put up a hitting percentage of .327 in the match, as Maddie Fischer (14), Haley Horner (11) and Taylor Brown (10) all recorded double-digit kills for the Tigers. While the Tiger's offense was lights out on Friday, the defense kept Wittenberg out in front, as the Tigers recorded 62 digs in the match.
Taylor Yontz was everywhere for the Tigers, logging 20 digs while Karen Wildemann recorded 12. Wildemann recorded a double-double for the Tigers dishing out 44 assists to go along with her 12 digs.
The Tigers have never played Claremont Mudd-Scripps (30-5) before, as the Athena's knocked off Gustavus Adlophus 3-1 on Thursday and Ithaca 3-1 on Friday.
Wittenberg returns to the Division III National Championship match for the third time since 2011, as the Tigers knocked off Christopher Newport to win the crown in 2011, and fell to California Lutheran in 2015. The 2017 Tigers have a chance to take a bit out of history tomorrow and win a national championship of their own, as Coach Labrador and assistant Coach Evelyn Carus look to run the gauntlet as their team looks to win their sixth match in nine days.
