Tigers Cap Weekend WIth Big Win Over Penn St.-Altoona

Springfield, Ohio - A day after opening the 2024 season with a 3-1 loss to nationally ranked St. John Fisher, the Wittenberg Tigers got back on track with a convincing 3-0 sweep of Penn State-Altoona.

The Tigers had hoped to play three matches on opening weekend, but Wisconsin Lutheran's travel plans were canceled by a major snowstorm. So the three teams that convened in Springfield played two matches each instead of three. St. John Fisher went 2-0, Wittenberg went 1-1, and Penn State-Altoona went 0-2.

Wittenberg jumped out to early leads in all three sets. In the first set, the Tigers survived a Nittany Lions rally that briefly gave the visitors a match point at 24-23. Wittenberg responded with three straight points to close the set, with the last two coming off serves by freshman Brooklyn Hollander (St. Louis, Missouri/St. Louis University High). From there, the Tigers were never threatened, making those early leads stand up en route to wins of 25-19 and 25-18.

The offensive catalyst for a second straight match was Michael Yurk (Indianapolis, Indiana/Bishop Chatard). He posted 17 kills, matching his total against St. John Fisher, to go along with four service aces, six digs and two blocks, all of which ranked among the best on the team.

Michael Gerardi (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) added six kills and Luke Teters (Waterford, Ohio/Waterford) chipped in with five. Andrew Diaz de Padilla (Nipmo, California/Central Coast New Tech) dished out 28 assists and hammered three service aces, and Jake Downs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Milford) led the defense with 10 digs.