Bloomington, IL – The No. 9 Wittenberg Women's Volleyball team closed out their regular season at the Illinois Wesleyan Holiday Inn Classic. Taking on St. Norbert College, Millikin College and host Illinois Wesleyan University, the Tigers came away with a 2-1 record on the weekend. Wittenberg opened up with a dominant, 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-13), win over the Big Green from St. Norbert. Leading the charge was Katie Hiestand, putting down 12 kills on 20 total attacks with just one error. The hard-hitting pair of Kendall Robertson and Tyler Linkhart put down nine kills apiece. Robertson posted a team-high .643 hitting percentage on 14 total attacks without an error, with two solo blocks. Linkhart added a block assist and three digs, finishing with a .412 hitting percentage. Kaili Worcester posted her most efficient match of the season, finishing with six kills on 11 swings for a .364 hitting-percentage. It was the fifth time this season Worcester has tallied six kills in a match for Wittenberg. Mack Ricketts tallied 35 or Wittenberg 38 assists, including 2 of the team's 5 service aces. Ally White tallied the final three service aces for the Tigers.
Wittenberg returned to action for two matches on Saturday, opening up against the Big Blue from Millikin. Wittenberg dropped their first match of the day, 3-1 (23-25, 23-25, 25-17, 16-25). Battling through each set, Wittenberg posted a .151 hitting-percentage as a team. Robertson (14), Hiestand (13), Linkhart (12) tallied double-digit kills for the Tigers on the afternoon. All three Tigers finished hitting above .200 on the day. Ricketts tallied 43 assists, including two service aces and eight digs. Ava Hampton notched 22 digs and two aces to her credit to start the second day of competition.
Wittenberg returned to action against a familiar opponent for their final match or the weekend and regular season. After falling to Illinois Wesleyan in three sets at the MSJ opening weekend invitational, the Tigers responded with a 3-1 (25-16, 25-23, 21-25, 25-17) win over the Titans. Putting together a .216 hitting percentage on the day, Wittenberg was led by Hiestand (17), Robertson (12) and Hannah Schartz (11) recording double-digit kills. For the second match in a row, Ricketts tallied 43 assists. This time Ricketts added 13 digs. As a team, Wittenberg tallied seven aces from the service line, led by Camryn Colahan with three. Hampton tallied a team-high 25 digs, along with 21 receptions and a service ace with four assists. On the defensive side of the ball, Wittenberg tallied 12 blocks as a unit while holding IWU to hitting just .145 as a team.
NCAC LEADERS
- Wittenberg leads the conference in kills, assists, and hitting-percentage.
- Ricketts leads the conference in assists, assists per set, and service aces.
- Robertson is No. 1 in the conference for hitting-percentage, Linkhart sits at No. 5 and Hiestand also in the top ten, sitting at No. 8.
- Linkhart is No. 1 in kills/set, Hiestand is No. 2, and Robertson comes in at No. 7.
- Linkhart, Hiestand, and Robertson also all stand in the top ten for total kills (314, 304, and 217)
NCAA LEADERS
- Wittenberg as a team comes in No. 4 in all of DIII for hitting-percentage with .263%.
- Ricketts sits at No. 7 in assists/set with 10.29.
- Wittenberg as a whole is at No. 11 in all of DIII for assists/set.
- The team sits at No. 7 in all of DIII for kills/set with 13.61.