Posted by: Ryan Maurer

Sarah Yuskewich

Teresa Murphy

With two more North Coast Athletic Conference victories on Saturday in a tri-match at Hiram, the Wittenberg University volleyball program has once again staked a claim to the regular season championship. This year's 8-0 NCAC mark is the fifth straight perfect conference record for the Tigers, extending a conference winning streak to 41 straight matches, dating back to Oct. 25, 1997 and a 3-2 loss at Case Western Reserve University.

The Tigers overwhelmed two more NCAC foes on Saturday, defeating Hiram 3-0 (30-14, 30-16, 30-16) and Denison 3-0 (30-21, 30-28, 30-19), the two closest pursuers in the race for the conference crown in 2002. Wittenberg has not lost even a single game in an NCAC match this year.

Statistically, the leaders were the usual suspects. Sophomore setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) distributed 103 assists in the two matches and showed few if any ill effects from the previous week's ankle injury. Sophomore outside hitter Monica McDonald (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) pounded 24 kills in the two matches and was responsible for 28.5 points won. She also had four service aces.

In addition, sophomore Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) contributed 24 digs and senior Teresa Murphy (Blacklick, Ohio/Newark Catholic) added 28 digs and 25 kills in her usual fine all-around effort.

McDonald continues to lead the team and NCAC in kills with 450 for the season and average of 4.55 kills per game. Yuskewich ranks first in the conference and among the top five in the nation in assists per game with 14.59. With 1401 assists already on her stat sheet and at least 10 matches still to play, she remains on pace to reach the school and national record for assists in a season set by Shelli Habegger in 2000.

Next up for the Tigers is an important trip to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the NCAA runner-up in 2001 and one of the top teams in the nation again this year. The Tigers are one of several nationally ranked teams schedule to compete in the two-day tournament, which will serve as a warm-up to an intense weekend of volleyball action in Springfield on Nov. 1 and 2 when No. 1 ranked and undefeated Washington University and nationally ranked Mount St. Joseph and Juniata come calling at the HPER Center.

Next: 10/25-26 @ UW-Whitewater

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Abi Gerstle

A final tune-up before the stretch run of the 2002 men's and women's cross country season was run last weekend at Ohio Northern University, where the Tigers got a lot of strong individual performances.

In leading the team to a seventh place finish, senior Abi Gerstle (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) won the meet, covering the six kilometers in a course-record and personal-best time of 22:41. Gerstle, who was named NCAC Athlete of the Week for a second time in 2002 as a result of her victory at ONU, appears to be in great shape to defend her 2001 NCAC championship and make a third consecutive run to the NCAA Division III championship meet, scheduled for Nov. 23 in Northfield, Minn. The regional meet, which is Nov. 16, will be run at Ohio Northern's course.

While the rest of the Tiger runners didn't have first-place ribbons to show for their efforts, several did turn in personal-best performances, including: freshmen Tracy Butler (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead), Anna Finkelstein (Whitehall, Mich./Reeths-Puffer) and Sarah Gearhart (Enon, Ohio/Greenon), sophomore Lindsay Veit (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East), Melissa Moser (Galion, Ohio/Galion) and Hillary Brotzman (Madison, Ohio/The Andrews School), and juniors Becky Barnes (Williamsport, Ohio/Westfall) and Nikki Norcia (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick).

For the men, Nick Dewald (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior) was the top finisher in 46th place with a season-best time of 27:32 for the eight-kilometer course. Men with personal bests were freshmen Chris Petrik (Highland Heights, Ohio/Mayfield), Caleb Arnold (Enon, Ohio/Greenon), Adam Majot (Coudersport, Pa./Senior) and Chris Knapp (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls), sophomore Chad Kresser (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay), juniors Jeff Domingus (London, Ohio/London) and Mike Henderson (Berea, Ohio/Berea) and senior Nate Henderson (Kettering, Ohio/Dayton Carroll).

Other with season-best times were juniors Alan Gustafson (Newark, Ohio/Newark) and Andrew Hobson (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington).

Next: 11/2 NCAC Championships
@ John Bryan State Park
(Hosted by Wittenberg)

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Mike Freeman

Andy Dooley

One week after the Wittenberg University Tigers were shocked at home on Homecoming Weekend in Springfield, the five-time defending North Coast Athletic Conference champions proved they weren't going to roll over just yet, pummeling Hiram 77-0.

Wittenberg scored on every first half possession, starting with a 54-yard punt return touchdown just 1:07 into the game by freshman Mike Freeman (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne). That was followed by a two-yard score by freshman tailback Adam Hewitt (Piqua, Ohio/Lehman Catholic), a six-yard scoring reception by freshman wide receiver Jered Glover (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) and a 19-yard TD catch by junior Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison). Senior quarterback Greg Cornett (Franklin, Ohio/Franklin) tossed both scoring passes.

In the second quarter, Hewitt, who was making his first start in place of the injured Daniel Grove (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont), scored his second career touchdown on a 10-yard burst. Glover added a 44-yard scoring reception and then junior tailback Andy Dooley (Lima, Ohio/Elida) got into the act, scoring a pair of touchdowns from six yards out and one yard away.

Dooley added a one-yard TD run to account for the only scoring in the third quarter and then senior wide receiver Josh McCoy (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) hooked up with sophomore quarterback Ryan Holmes (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda) on a 33-yard fourth-quarter touchdown and then freshman running back Tom Hornsby (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) rounded things out with a 24-yard scoring run with 43 seconds left in the game.

For the game, Wittenberg amassed 587 yards to 86 for the host team. Dooley led the way on the ground, gaining 134 yards on 19 carries, Cornett had a stellar day under center, finishing with nine completions in 11 attempts for 160 yards and three touchdowns, and McCoy topped the team with five receptions. Nine different players caught passes and eight different running backs had at least three carries in the game. Three quarterbacks attempted at least six passes each.

On defense and special teams, the Tiger bench cleared by game's end and the tackles were spread around to no less than 28 different players registered at least one statistical entry. Senior safety Dane Dudley (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) topped the team with five solo tackles. In addition, Dudley was part of a record-breaking punt return unit as he combined with Freeman to return seven punts for 181 yards. The previous record was 174 punt return yards in a game, set in 1953 against Akron. Freeman just missed the individual mark, picking up 148 punt return yards on five attempts, two short of the record set by Russ Fedyk against Bluffton in 1997.

Next: 10/26 @ Ohio Wesleyan, 1 p.m.

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Katie Babcock

Emily Duh

The Tiger field hockey team continues to get the job done in the race for the regular season conference championship and is in line to serve as the host team and No. 1 seed in the first-ever NCAC Tournament. Semifinals are slated for Saturday, Nov. 2 and the championship game will be played on Saturday, Nov. 9.

Wittenberg remained atop the standings by defeating Kenyon last Tuesday 4-0 and then returning home and winning a hard-fought 3-2 overtime decision against Oberlin. It was the second straight one-goal decision for the Tigers over the Yeowomen, their likely NCAC semifinal opponent. Against Kenyon, junior Katie Babcock (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) had two goals, senior Emily Duh (Hellertown, Pa./Saucon Valley) had a goal and an assist, sophomore Blair Ufer (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) tallied a goal and freshman Emma Rufleth (Clinton, Conn./The Morgan School) chipped in with an assist. All four goals came in a second-half offensive barrage that broke open a 0-0 halftime tie.

Against Oberlin, the Tigers couldn't hang onto a second-half lead but rallied for a goal four minutes into overtime to pull the win out. Duh had the two goals in regulation, including one on a penalty shot in the second half, and Babcock scored the game-winner in overtime. Rufleth assisted on Duh's first goal, while Ufer got the helper on the score in OT.

In net, sophomore goalkeeper Jen Meyer (Solon, Ohio/Hathaway Brown) allowed just her sixth and seventh goals of the season against Oberlin. She entered the weekend ranked No. 1 in the nation in saves percentage.

On Saturday, the Tigers took to the road for the annual Fall Break weekend. The first game in what is expected to be a very telling trip resulted in a 2-0 defeat at Juniata on Sunday. On Tuesday, the trip concludes with a game at eighth-ranked Lebanon Valley College. The Tigers are rated No. 13 in the latest national poll.

Next: 10/22 @ Lebanon Valley, 3:30 p.m.

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Stefan Christman

Brian Armstrong

The Tiger men's soccer team has made a habit of playing close games in 2002. Unfortunately, they also have lost most of them.

In perhaps the biggest game of the year on Saturday, with the Tigers hanging onto hope of earning an NCAC tournament berth by winning their final five games, Wooster took the measure of Wittenberg by a 2-1 score. It was the seventh time this season that the Tigers have lost a game by one goal (against two wins by one goal), and of those seven one-goal defeats, four have come after Wittenberg led 1-0 at halftime.

Against Wooster, senior forward Brian Armstrong (Delaware, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) scored in the first half to give the Tigers a short-lived lead. But in the final 45 minutes, playing for the third time in the last three weeks with just 10 players for an entire half, Wittenberg couldn't hang onto the lead, allowing the game-winner with just 2:57 left on the clock.

Against Wabash, the Tigers had an offensive explosion that they have seen before or since. In the first four minutes of the game, Wittenberg dropped three goals into the back of the net. Armstrong had the first one, junior Steve Doring (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne) netted the second and sophomore Cliff Cannon (Gahanna, Ohio/Wellington) chipped in a third. Assists went to senior Stefan Christman (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) on the first two tallies and Armstrong on the goal by Cannon.

Armstrong rounded out the scoring with a second-half penalty kick after he was tripped in the corner of the box. He leads the Tigers with eight goals and 21 total points.

The Tigers have three games remaining and a long hill to climb to reach the NCAC tournament, which includes the top four teams in the conference. Wittenberg starts off with a home game against Kenyon on Wednesday and then wraps up with road games at Oberlin and Hiram the next two weekends. In order to reach the postseason, Wittenberg must win those three games and hope for a lot of help.

The game against Kenyon will be the 2002 home finale and Senior Recognition Day. Armstrong, Christman, Josh Curtis (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman), Matt Lapish (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South) and Josh Hains (Granger, Ind./Clay) all will make their final home appearance in a Wittenberg jersey.

Next: 10/23 vs. Kenyon, 4 p.m.

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Sarah Tkacz

Rachel Helsinger

Amy McCann

After winning two straight NCAC games to pull back into the race for the conference tournament, which includes the top four teams in the regular season race, the Tiger women's soccer team saw its hopes likely dashed in a pair of defeats last week.

Both were shutouts. On Wednesday, the Tigers played well in a 2-0 defeat at nationally ranked Wooster. Then on Saturday, Wittenberg took a step backward against No. 1 ranked and still unbeaten Ohio Wesleyan, falling on Senior Recognition Day at Bill Edwards Field by a final of 9-0. Making their final appearance at home in the Red & White were seniors Sarah Tkacz (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster), Rachel Helsinger (Monroe, Ohio/Lemon-Monroe) and Amy McCann (University Heights, Ohio/Gilmour Academy).

Next: 10/26 @ Denison, 7 p.m.