No. 8 Tigers Open NCAC Play With Statement Win Over Wooster

Springfield, OH -- The No. 8 Wittenberg Tigers showed resilience, responding from their first loss in five match with a commanding 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-9) sweep of the College of Wooster to begin NCAC play. The Tigers were led by Senior Katie Hiestand, putting down 18 kills on 34 swings for a .412 hitting percentage. Hiestand added 10 digs, to go along with three blocks. The Tiger offense tallied a .343 hitting-percentage on the night, putting down 48 kills on 105 total attacks with just 12 errors.

Junior Tyler Linkhart added 11 kills on 21 total attacks with just two errors for a .429 hitting mark. Kendall Robertson and Kaili Worcester added five kills each. Robertoson converted a team-leading .500 hitting percentage, without an error.

It was the Tigers defense that shined through in the third set. Wittenberg only surrendered nine total points in their exclamation point on the day.

Labero Ava Hampton led the team in digs with 14, followed closely by freshman Ally White with 12. Kendall Robertson and Katie Hiestand led the team with blocks with four and three respectively, making it hard for the Scots to get things going throughout the match.

With this win, Wittenberg gets back on the winning track. The Tigers improve to 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in North Coast Athletic Conference play.

NATIONAL LEADERS

• Mack Ricketts ranks fifth nationally in NCAA DIII in assists/set at 10.30. She trails the national leader Lauren Lee (Hope College) by only a fraction of a point, as Lee is averaging 10.79 assists/set.
• Ricketts has cracked the top 50 in DIII for aces/set, coming in at No. 36 averaging .85 per set. Most recently, Ricketts posted six aces in Wittenberg's 3-0 win over Transylvania.
• Tyler Linkhart sits at 16^th nationally for kills/set with 4.15, smashing 166 kills in 40 sets played.
•  As a team, Wittenberg posts the fourth highest hitting-percentage amongst DIII programs with a .275 mark.
• Not only are the Tigers efficient but ruthless in their attack, ranking ninth nationally for kills/set at 13.48.

NCAC LEADERS

• Making her mark in the national standing, Ricketts tops the conference in assists/set (10.30), aces/set (0.85), total assists (412), and total service aces (34).
• Linkhart sets the conference standard for hitting-percentage at .390, ranking 18^th nationally.
• Kendall Robertson joins her fellow Tiger in the spot for hitting-percentage, smashing a .407 clip with 93 kills on 177 total attempts with just 21 errors.
• Robertson ranks sixth in the NCAC for blocks/set with .79.
• Ava Hampton has tallied 142 digs through 37 sets, averaging 3.94 digs/set, ranking fifth amongst her NCAC counterparts.
• Wittenberg holds the top spot in the NCAC in four statistical categories including, assists/set, hitting-percentage, kills/set, and win-percentage.

The Tigers are back in action this Wednesday September 28^th, 2022 at Pam Evans Smith arena as they take on Ohio Northern.