Wittenberg junior middle hitter Caitlin Augustus

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg University volleyball team, ranked 11th in the nation after posting a 31-7 record in the 2006 regular season, has earned the opportunity to play in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the 11th year in a row and the 12th time in school history.

The Tigers will hit the road for the Great Lakes Regional of the NCAA Division III Tournament for just the second time in the last five years. Wittenberg will face the State University of New York Brockport at 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, at Calvin College, the first of four first-round matches scheduled for Thursday. The regional semifinals, matching the winners of Thursday's matches, will take place Friday, Nov. 10, and the championship match is scheduled Saturday, Nov. 11.

The winner of the regional bracket will advance to the national tournament with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals set for Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 16-18, in Salem, Va. Wittenberg reached the national semifinals for the first time in school history in 2005 before losing to Juniata College, 3-2.

The Great Lakes Regional figures to be a challenging bracket again in 2006. The Tigers open with Brockport State, the State University of New York Athletic Conference regular season champion and owner of a 27-9 overall record. The winner of that quarterfinal match will face a stern challenge in Friday's 4:30 p.m. regional semifinal match as nationally ranked Hiram College, regular season North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) runner-up before ending Wittenberg's 10-year run of NCAC Tournament championships, squares off with the College of Mount St. Joseph, champion of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

The rest of the regional bracket features nationally ranked Ohio Athletic Conference champion Ohio Northern University against Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular season and tournament runner-up Hope College at 1 p.m. Thursday and Empire 8 Tournament medalist Nazareth College against host Calvin, winner of both the MIAA regular season and tournament titles and owner of a sparkling 32-1 overall record.

Wittenberg advanced to the 2006 NCAA Division III Tournament by virtue of an at-large berth for the first time in more than a decade after falling 3-2 to Hiram in the NCAC Tournament championship match. While a 25-match NCAC Tournament win streak came to a halt - as did a 13-match win streak - against the Terriers, the Tigers have still put together a tremendous 2006 season. Without a senior on the roster, Wittenberg put together a perfect 16-0 record in the first NCAC double-round robin formatted regular season, dropping just one game along the way, and the Tigers are 6-6 against teams ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association/CSTV top 25 poll.

The Tigers are led offensively by two-time first-team All-NCAC outside hitters Emily Bell, class of 2008 from Fort Wayne, Ind., and Jackie Williams, class of 2009 from Rocky River, Ohio, and defensively by Bell, outside hitter Jan Kehres, class of 2008 from Alliance, Ohio, and libero Laura Fender, class of 2009 from Toledo, Ohio. Running the offense are setters Sarah Matesich, class of 2008 from Granville, Ohio, and Erin Slattery, class of 2010 from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, the NCAC Newcomer of the Year.

The Tigers have reached the NCAA Division III Tournament Round of 16 seven times in school history, the national quarterfinals three of the last four years, and the national semifinals for the first time in 2005. Wittenberg's all-time record in national tournament action is 13-11.

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