Wittenberg women’s volleyball proved that its season isn’t over yet, as the women extended their winning record over the weekend.
Postseason action began for the Tigers with the hosting of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament. Eight teams competed in two long days of volleyball matches on Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers won the conference outright during the regular season, with eight wins and no losses to earn the advantage of being the number one seed. Wittenberg hasn’t lost a regular season conference match-up since September 2010 against Hiram.
Wittenberg won all three of their games, beginning with a quarterfinal victory over Oberlin, 3-1. On Saturday, the Tigers rallied against Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw to win the semifinal 3-1 and the final 3-0, respectively.
Junior Maddie Fischer was named Most Valuable Player of the all-tournament team. Fischer recorded the highest kill percentage in the match against Oberlin, at .600 for 13 kills and one error. The junior also recorded a solo block and three assisted blocks against Ohio Wesleyan.
Freshman Aubrey Cox and sophomore Karen Wildemann were also named to the all-tournament team. Wildemann accumulated 111 assists on the weekend, increasing her career assists to a total of 1133. The sophomore is already within reach of having her name etched into the record book.
Not only did this year mark the longest streak that Wittenberg has hosted the tournament at 11 years, Wittenberg has won the tournament and has been crowned as conference champions for the past 10 years consecutively.
Wittenberg has hosted the conference tournament 19 times of the past 20 years, as well as winning the tournament 19 times since 1997. Hiram College hosted the tournament in 2005, then won the championship the following year to break the Tiger’s nine-year win streak.
The NCAC named Cox as the Newcomer of the Year. The freshman has made appearances in 26 matches this season to date, and accounted for a total of 155 kills and 71 total blocks. Fischer was named to the first team All-NCAC alongside Cox while senior Camilla Quinones and Wildemann were named All-NCAC Honorable Mention.
Bridget Sheehan, head coach of Allegheny’s volleyball team, was also honored by the conference coaches with being named as the NCAC Coach of the Year. The conference season was dedicated to Sheehan, as she had to take a leave of absence this past season in her battle against cancer. All coaches rallied behind this three-decade competitor and the #Battle4Bridget by sporting blue ribbons.
The Tigers will continue on to the NCAA Regional tournament, which is to be hosted by Calvin College this weekend. They will travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan to take on Bethany College (W. Virginia) in the regional quarterfinal.
