Springfield, Ohio – The third-ranked Wittenberg women's volleyball team wrapped up the 2018 regular season on Tuesday evening with a thrilling 3-2  come-from-behind victory over visiting Earlham at Pam Evans Smith Arena. The Tigers wrapped up the regular season with an overall record of 21-2, which included winning their 13^th-straight and league-leading 24^th NCAC Championship with a perfect 8-0 mark in conference play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After dropping the first two sets of the match, the third-ranked Tigers stormed back in the final three sets to end the regular season with a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Earlham Quakers. Wittenberg dropped a 25-22 decision in set one and then fell in set two by a 28-26 margin. However, the Tigers won the next two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-20, and finally closed out the match with a 15-13 victory in the decisive fifth set.

WHO STOOD OUT FOR THE TIGERS

Several different players stood out for the Tigers on the offensive side of the net in the match as six players had six kills or more in the five-set thriller, led by senior middle hitter Kennedey Schmidt with 12 total kills. Junior middle blocker Aubrey Cox had another strong performance with 10 kills and four total blocks (1 solo, 3 asst.), which included a solo block for the match-clinching point.  

A pair of rookies teamed up at the setter position for the Tigers in the match, highlighted by Sophia Easton notching her first-career double-double with 35 assists and 11 digs. Classmate Ashley Brooks also chipped in with 15 set assists on the night.

Defensively, four different Tigers notched double-digit digs in the victory, led by junior libero Taylor Yontz with 34 and senior outside hitter Taylor Brown with 24.

UP NEXT

As the top seed, Wittenberg will now play host to the 2018 NCAC Volleyball Tournament this weekend, November 2-3, for the 13^th year in a row. The Tournament opens with opening round matches and quarterfinal matches on Friday night at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., respectively, before concluding on Saturday with semifinal matches at 11:00 a.m. and the championship match at 5:00 p.m. The Tigers will sit idle on the opening day of the tournament, opening tournament play on Saturday morning in one of the two semifinal matches.