2004 Season in Review

2004 Great Lakes Region Tournament Champions

Setting the Scene: The Wittenberg University volleyball express rolled on in 2004. The Tigers won the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship and NCAC Tournament title for an eighth straight year and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the ninth straight year and 10th time in the last 11 seasons.

The Tigers' 35-3 overall record was the best in school history in terms of total wins and winning percentage. Wittenberg finished the NCAC regular season loop with an 8-0 record by winning 24 straight games, and then the Tigers followed with a pair of 3-0 victories in the conference tournament.

In the postseason, the Tigers entered with the highest of high hopes, but a long road trip to California did not go as planned. After winning the second Great Lakes Regional championship in three years with 3-0 wins against Alma and Mount St. Joseph, the Tigers dropped a 3-0 decision to homestanding La Verne in the national quarterfinals.

In a sign of tremendous respect, however, Wittenberg finished the season ranked No. 4 in the nation, one of the best finishes in school history. During the season, Wittenberg, which defeated eventual national champion Juniata twice, advanced to the No. 1 position in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll for the first time in school history.

Wittenberg has now won 59 NCAC regular season matches in a row, dating back to a 3-2 loss at Case Western on Oct. 18, 1997. The Tigers also are riding a 22-match NCAC Tournament win streak, dating back to Nov. 9, 1996 defeat at Ohio Wesleyan.

Postseason Honors: Senior setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) became Wittenberg's first three-time first-team All-America honoree. The team and conference leader in assists and assists per game, Yuskewich was named NCAC Player of the Year and first-team All-Great Lakes Region for an unprecedented third straight year. The NCAA Division III record-holder for assists in a season with 2,125 in 2002, Yuskewich, who also holds the school record for career blocks, concluded her career ranked in the top five nationally for career assists and assists per game after shattering both the Wittenberg and NCAC marks. Her 2004 total of 1,547 assists took her career number to 6,151.

Senior libero Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) earned second-team All-America honors, the highest accolade she has received in her Wittenberg career. An honorable mention choice in 2003, Schmid wound up as the school and conference record-holder for digs in a season and a career after recording 1,056 during the 2004 campaign. Schmid is the only player to ever earn the NCAC Libero of the Year award in its two years of existence, and she wrapped things up with 2,690 career digs, good for fourth all-time in NCAA Division III history, based on records prior to the 2004 season.

Senior outside hitter Monica McDonald (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) wrapped up her Wittenberg career with third-team All-America honors. A 2002 second-team All-American, McDonald finished with a team-best 376 kills in 2004, the third time in her four seasons in the Red & White that McDonald had topped the Tigers offensively. She finished her career with 1,626 kills, good for fifth on the Wittenberg list and sixth on the NCAC list. Her career attack percentage also ranks among the leaders in Wittenberg and NCAC history.

Senior middle hitter Kristin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) put an exclamation point on her career with honorable mention All-America honors for the second straight year. Also a two-time All-NCAC and All-Great Lakes Region honoree, Fox came on strong in her final two years in the Red & White to rank among the team leaders in kills and attack percentage. Rounding out the postseason awards, Labrador was honored as Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year.

Yuskewich (NCAC Player of the Year), Schmid (NCAC Libero of the Year) and Fox earned All-NCAC first-team honors. McDonald and junior middle hitter Emily Dixon (Granville, Ohio/Granville) were selected second-team All-NCAC. Yuskewich, Schmid, Fox and McDonald also garnered first-team All-Great Lakes Region honors, with Dixon claiming honorable mention.

Emily Bell celebrates with her teammates after a point.

"Hungry." That's the word Head Coach Paco Labrador uses to describe his up-and-coming sensational sophomore class.

The Tigers will be loaded with second-year talent in 2005, many of whom were key contributors to last season's 35-3 record. Outside hitter Emily Bell (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) was an unshakable starter in 2004, and she has her sights set on yet another dominant season in 2005. The 5-9 outside hitter hammered 19 kills and hit a whopping .444 attack percentage against eventual national runner-up Washington University on the way to Wittenberg's NCAA Division III Tournament berth. In the regional final versus in-state rival Mount St. Joseph, Bell put away 12 kills, including a thunderous match point kill to seal the game.

Outside hitter Lindsey Penrod (Piqua, Ohio/Piqua) is another second-year player who returns with "Big Game" experience. At 6-0, Penrod found a niche on the right antenna and played in 32 of 38 matches as a rookie. Penrod enjoyed the pressure of the NCAA tournament, averaging three kills a game with a .451 hitting percentage in the opening match versus Alma.

Outside hitter Jan "Clutch" Kehres (Alliance, Ohio/Alliance) has become one of Wittenberg's best ball control and defensive players. The sophomore played in 25 matches last year, some as a starter and others as a key sub. Labrador wasted no time subbing Jan into the starting line-up to steady out the serve receive passing. During Wittenberg's pressure-packed NCAA Elite 8 match on the hostile floor of home team La Verne, Kehres was called upon to stop a powerful offensive surge from the Leopards. As always, Jan nailed a pass and came up with a momentum shifting kill to ebb the LaVerne tide.

The same description applies to yet another young Tiger, setter Sarah Matesich (Granville, Ohio/Newark Catholic). The speedy 5-5 setter helped as a defensive specialist with steady passing and lightning-fast defensive saves. During the spring season, Matesich moved back to her natural setting position, leading the offense against several Division I and Division II scholarship opponents. A crafty setter, Matesich even found a way to generate several unexpected shots for kills from the setting position.

The spring afforded another Tiger a chance to shine. Caitlin Augustus (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee), a 5-11 middle hitter, was the lone middle after Dixon was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Practicing and playing every moment of every drill and match as the sole middle helped Augustus progress by leaps and bounds, culminating in an excellent blocking and attacking performance versus Division I University of Buffalo and Division II Ashland at the Kent State Spring Invitational.

Finally, a new face was added to the Wittenberg Volleyball sophomore family during the spring. Ashley Anderson (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North), a 5-7 setter, transferred to the Tiger program from Western Illinois University. The highly trained Chicago native fell right into stride delivering the fast-paced Wittenberg offense. Anderson adds yet another vocal, fiercely competitive player to the dominant Tiger lineup.

Once again, the Wittenberg volleyball program made great strides both on the court and in the classroom. Seven of the team's 13 players made the Dean's List (3.5 grade point average or better with 12 credit hours or more) for the fall 2004 semester and the team's GPA was 3.43, among the best on campus.

After the season, Fox was named third-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV. She was one of more than 100 individuals nominated for the 18 spots available in the district alone. Four Tiger players were among the nominees, with eligibility limited to players appearing in at least 50 percent of all games, carrying at least a 3.2 GPA and earning at least sophomore status.

If it isn't the finest senior class to pass through Wittenberg University's volleyball program, it would merit quite an argument. The accomplishments of Yuskewich, Schmid, McDonald and Fox have been previously documented, and in combination with defensive specialist Aubrey Anderson (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North), a two-year letterwinner, the senior class leaves a tremendous void for the program's 2005 edition.

As a class, these five players won four NCAC regular season and four NCAC Tournament titles, without the loss of even a game in any single match. The Tigers' first two NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional titles were won with this class at the heart of the team (2002 and 2004). Wittenberg's four-year record is a stunning 123-27, good for an .820 winning percentage.

Paco Labrador (Hiram '95), completed his second season as the Tigers' head coach. He sports a phenomenal 63-10 overall record, including a perfect 16-0 mark in the NCAC through his first two seasons in the Red & White. He has led the Tigers to back-to-back NCAC regular season and tournament championships, and his teams have one regional title and a 3-2 record in two NCAA Division III Tournament appearances.