Wittenberg Defeats Calvin To Advance To National Quarterfinals

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Wittenberg University scrapped its way past Calvin College, 3-0, in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Tournament championship match, in the process advancing to the national quarterfinals for the third time in the last four years.

The Tigers, champions of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for the ninth straight year, improved to 33-4 overall on the 2005 season. Ranked fifth in the nation and first in the Great Lakes Region, the Tigers will square off with New York University in the national quarterfinals on Thursday, Nov. 17, at Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va. Wittenberg's last two trips to the Round of 8 resulted in losses at Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2002 and La Verne in 2004.

Calvin, champion of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament, capped its season with a 30-9 overall record. The Knights had won 13 straight matches, including a 3-0 regional quarterfinal win over Hiram on Thursday and a 3-1 regional semifinal win over Millikin on Friday, before Saturday's loss.

In winning for the second time this season over Calvin - Wittenberg beat the Knights 3-0 on Sept. 17 during the Border Battle in the HPER Center - the Tigers displayed both outstanding offense and gritty defense. Winners in the quarterfinals on Thursday over Fontbonne, 3-0, and in the semifinals on Friday over Ohio Northern, 3-1, the top-seeded Tigers posted 90 digs and 15 total team blocks en route to game scores of 30-22, 35-33, 30-22 over Calvin.

With just two seniors and no juniors on this year's team, the Tigers were expected to be in a rebuilding mode, but the emergence of freshmen Jackie Williams on offense and Laura Fender on defense helped make another trip to the national tournament a possibility. And both were sensational again Saturday, with Williams sharing game honors with 11 kills and an attack percentage of .370 and Fender leading all players with 24 digs.

Sophomore outside hitters Jan Kehres and Emily Bell were both outstanding as well, finishing with 10 kills each and 22 and 21 digs respectively. Senior middle hitter Emily Dixon led all players with eight block assists, while senior outside hitter Linda Young was solid with one solo block and six block assists.

Calvin picked up a game-high 35 assists from Katie Zondervan and two Knights players reached double figures in kills - Lorilyn Vogel and Christine Hendricks with 10 and 11 respectively. Lauren DeGroot topped Calvin with 21 digs.