CHICAGO, Illinois—#1 The Wittenberg Tiger's women's volleyball team took their firs stumble of the year, as the team fell to Carthage and Wisconsin Eau-Claire on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers defeated Elmhurst, a program that is usually in the AVCA Top-25, the night before for the team's 20th consecutive win. Wittenberg now stands 20-2 on the year, and will play host to the 2017 NCAC tournament as the #1 seed on November 3 and 4.
HOW IT HAPPENED: On Friday night, Wittenberg made quick work of Elmhurst, dropping the Blue Jays 3-1 to the tune of 25-13, 25-20, 22-25 and 25-18. The Tigers then fell in the first match on Saturday, 20-25, 26-24, 20-25 and 20-25. The Tigers concluded the non-conference tournament on Saturday evening with a loss to Wisconsin-Eau Claire,15-25, 25-20, 16-25, 26-24, 12-15.
WHO STOOD OUT: Maddie Fischer racked up 19 kills in the five-set thriller against Wisconsin- Eau Claire, as well as totaling 12 kills against Carthage college earlier in the day. Haley Horner returned to her home state to compete over the weekend, as the outside hitter totaled 14 kills against Elmhurst, and nine against Carthage. Karen Wildemann continued to produce for the Tigers, tallying matches of 41, 36 and 41 assists. Wildemann concludes the regular season for the Tigers averaging 9.64 assists per-set, and 2.44 digs per-set.
NCAC TOURNAMENT: The two-day, seven-match, single-elimination tournament will be held at Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield, Ohio, November 3-4.
In the first-round matches at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, Match A features No. 5 Kenyon and No. 8 Oberlin, while Match B is a matchup between No. 6 Hiram and No. 7 Wooster. In the 7:30 p.m. time slot on Friday night, Match C will feature No. 4 Denison against the Kenyon/Oberlin winner, and Match D will pit No. 3 Ohio Wesleyan against the Hiram/Wooster winner.
On Saturday, semifinal matches will be contested at 11:00 a.m., with the championship match set for 5:00 p.m. In the semifinal matches, No. 1 Wittenberg will meet the winner of Match C and No. 2 DePauw will square off against the winner of Match D.
In addition, the NCAC Senior Recognition Ceremony and Announcement of the 2017 All-NCAC Teams will take place immediately following the 3:00 p.m. matches on Friday.
Wittenberg has dominated the NCAC tournament in recent history, winning ten-consecutive tournament championships. In 26 overall tournament appearances, Wittenberg has gone 70-8. The Tigers have won 22 regular season championships, and 22 tournament championships. 18 of the NCAC Tournament Championships for the Tigers have come inside Pam Evans Smith Arena.
The Tigers have met with DePauw in the tournament's championship game the last three seasons, as the Tigers of Wittenberg have knocked off the Tigers of DePauw 3-1 in 2014, 3-1 in 2015, and 3-0 in 2016.