SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers cruised through the first of two North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal matches at the university's HPER Center on Friday, topping Ohio Wesleyan, 3-0.
The win, Wittenberg's 13th straight, moved the Tigers to the NCAC Tournament championship match, to be played Saturday at 2 p.m., also in the HPER Center. The Tigers, ranked 11th in the nation and second in the Great Lakes Region, will bring a 31-6 overall record into that match after posting a perfect 16-0 mark in the NCAC regular season, good for first place in the standings for the ninth time in the last 10 years.
Ohio Wesleyan, seeded fourth, dropped to 22-9 overall.
The Tigers sprinted out to big early leads in each of the three games, won by scores of 30-17, 30-14 and 30-22, and never really were threatened. The offense was outstanding, generating 51 kills in 118 attack attempts against just 13 errors, good for a sterling percentage of .322. Junior Emily Bell (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) and sophomore Jackie Williams (Rocky River, Ohio/Magnificat) led the way with 12 kills apiece, followed by junior Caitlin Augustus (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) with eight kills and freshman Katie Snead (Westerville, Ohio/South) with seven.
Defensively, the Tigers were sterling as well with 69 digs and eight team blocks on Ohio Wesleyan's 126 attack attempts. Bell was tops in digs with 23, while Augustus and Snead finished with four blocks apiece.
Ohio Wesleyan's attack percentage was .008. Steffi Graf was the team leader with seven kills. The Bishops, the No. 1 team in NCAA Division III in digs, finished with 48, led by Graf's 11.