ST. LOUIS, Mo. - For more than a decade, the Wittenberg Tigers and the Ohio Northern Polar Bears have been battling for Great Lakes Region supremacy, sometimes joined by other teams but always rising to the challenge for fierce matches with great meaning each season. In their first confrontation of the 2005 season, Wittenberg got the best of things, topping Ohio Northern by a 3-1 score in the opening match of the Washington University National Invitational.

The win improved the Tigers to 2-1 overall on the young season. Wittenberg started the season ranked fourth nationally and Ohio Northern checked in at No. 10. This weekend's tournament features five of the top 13 teams in the nation.

Wittenberg got a fine all-around performance from sophomore outside hitter Lindsey Penrod, who finished with 18 kills, six assists, nine digs and three blocks while playing the entire way in a match that featured game scores of 30-27, 29-31, 30-18, 30-27. Sophomore middle hitter Caitlin Augustus chipped in with a team-best eight blocks, freshman libero Laura Fender added 30 digs and sophomore outside hitter Jan Kehres was solid all the way around, particularly on defense with 25 digs.