Tigers Push Nationally Ranked Stevenson Before Falling 3-1

CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers offered a stern challenge to another NCAA Division III heavyweight before dropping a 3-1 decision against 10th-ranked Stevenson in a match played at Mount St. Joseph.

Much as they did earlier in their inaugural campaign as an intercollegiate athletics program, the Tigers went toe-to-toe with one of the teams expected to challenge for postseason success next month. After dropping the first two sets by scores of 25-22, 25-18, Wittenberg rallied for a 25-19 win in the third frame. Stevenson re-grouped, however, and closed out the match with a 25-19 win in the fourth set.

Wittenberg attacked at a decent percentage, finishing at .274 on 106 attack attempts. However, the Tiger defense did little to slow down Stevenson, which piled up 50 kills in 102 attempts in the match.

Wittenberg's offense was paced by freshman Justin Luby (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) with 18 kills and a .343 attack percentage. Freshman Ashton Sellers (Westerville, Ohio/Central) added 10 kills on 19 attempts. Freshman Ross Russell (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) dished out 41 assists.

Defensively, freshman Dylan Kolovitz (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) contributed four blocks, including a pair of solo efforts, and freshman Nathan Matthews (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) was tops in digs with eight. Russell and freshman Joel Sotos (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) added six digs each.

Wittenberg fell to 12-6 with the loss, heading into a pair of conference road games over the weekend. The Tigers will take on North Central on Friday and Loras on Saturday.

Written By: Ryan Maurer