Wittenberg Sweeps Denison In NCAC Tournament Semifinals
The Wittenberg Tigers may not have their favorite Red and White surroundings to provide a comfort level, but they still took care of business Friday night, sweeping Denison 3-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals.
HIRAM, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers may not have their favorite Red and White surroundings to provide a comfort level, but they still took care of business Friday night, sweeping Denison 3-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals.
The win, Wittenberg's 13th straight since an Oct. 7 loss at Hiram against the NCAC regular season champion Terriers, moved the sixth-ranked Tigers into the NCAC Tournament championship match for the 10th straight year. The Tigers, who improved to 29-4 on the season after posting a 7-1 record in the NCAC regular season, have won the last eight conference tournament titles, all on their home court.
For the second straight year, Wittenberg took third-seeded Denison in three straight games to advance to the tournament title match. By scores of 30-16, 30-18, 30-26 the second-seeded Tigers advanced to Saturday's title match against top-seeded Hiram, which took fourth-seeded Wooster in three straight games in the evening's first match.
Wittenberg was once again led on the offensive end by freshman outside hitter Jackie Williams, who pounded 13 kills. Senior outside hitter Linda Young added 11 kills and sophomore outside hitter Emily Bell chipped in with nine kills. Defensively, the big stats were turned in by senior middle hitter Emily Dixon, who had a season-high eight blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Jan Kehres led with 16 digs, while freshman libero Laura Fender rounded things out with 12 digs.