Top-Ranked Wittenberg Hosts No. 2 Juniata As Part of Fall Classic

Jackie Williams (14) and Jessica Kimble (12) hope to rise above the competition again in the Wittenberg Fall Classic.

Springfield, Ohio — The No. 1 ranked Wittenberg University volleyball team will put the finishing touches on the 2007 regular season with the greatly anticipated Wittenberg Fall Classic on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26 and 27, in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) Center. The event highlight is a rare match-up of No. 1 against No. 2 in the nation when defending national champion Juniata takes on Wittenberg at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26.

Winners of 42 straight regular season matches dating back to the 2006 season, the Tigers are the only unbeaten team in NCAA Division III. Now sporting a 30-0 overall record after a 3-1 win over Earlham on Wednesday, Wittenberg has been ranked No. 1 in three of the eight CSTV/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) NCAA Division III poll releases in 2007.

Juniata, the No. 1 team in the other five national polls this season, comes into the Wittenberg Fall Classic with a 29-3 overall record after capturing the program's second national championship a year ago. The Eagles have ended Wittenberg's season each of the last two years in the NCAA Division III Tournament semifinals.

Wittenberg and Juniata, two of just eight schools in the 15-year history of the CSTV/AVCA poll ever ranked No. 1, are joined in this year's Fall Classic by sixth-ranked Carthage College, the University of Dallas, Carnegie Mellon University and NAIA powerhouse Cedarville University. Matches on two courts will take place at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday. In addition, Wittenberg will take on North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rival Denison at 4 p.m. Friday and Juniata will face Carnegie Mellon at 5 p.m. Saturday.

The Tigers are shooting for the first perfect regular season in school or NCAC history after breaking the record for consecutive wins (18 in 2004 and 2005). Wittenberg also is assured of an NCAC-record 18th consecutive winning season - the seventh-longest streak in NCAA Division III history and the sixth-longest current streak.

Led by the most accomplished senior class in school history, a five-player group that has posted a phenomenal 134-16 record over the last four years, the Tigers also set school and NCAC records with a 54-game streak between Game 4 against Hope College on Sept. 14 and Game 1 against Earlham on Oct. 24. In between, Wittenberg won 17 straight matches by 3-0 scores. The previous NCAA Division III record was 49 in a row, set by Washington University (Mo.) in 1995, but the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh reeled off 57 in a row earlier this season to set a new standard. The all-division record is 105 by Florida in 2003.

Finally, the Tigers can wrap up their second straight unbeaten NCAC regular season - and the program's ninth in the last 10 years - with a win over Denison on Friday. Wittenberg has already clinched its 13th NCAC regular season title in 19 years in the league, which earned the Tigers home court advantage in the NCAC Tournament Nov. 2-3.

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