Head Coach Paco Labrador (left) and Wittenberg President Mark Erickson show off some of the team's 2006 hardware

Springfield, Ohio — The Wittenberg University volleyball team, ranked second in the 2007 preseason American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) NCAA Division III poll, hosts its annual Wittenberg Invitational, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, in the HPER Center Arena. Four matches on Friday get started on two courts at 6 p.m. and five matches on two courts on Saturday will commence at noon.

The Wittenberg Invitational is the first of three regular season tournaments the Tigers will host during the 2007 season. Centre College, Defiance College, Eastern (Pa.) University and Thomas More College will join the defending North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season champion Tigers in this year's Wittenberg Invitational.

Entering their fifth season under the direction of Head Coach Paco Labrador, who has a sparkling 132-23 overall record, the Tigers have their sights set on the loftiest of goals in 2007. Coming off four Great Lakes Region titles in the last five years and back-to-back national semifinal appearances, the Tigers return five seniors and a whopping 19 letterwinners in hopes of garnering that elusive Walnut and Bronze national championship trophy at season's end.

The Tigers, picked to win the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) by the coaches in a preseason poll, are led by outside hitters Emily Bell, class of 2008 from Fort Wayne, Ind., and Jan Kehres, class of 2008 from Alliance, Ohio. Each has ranked among the team leaders in kills and digs each of the last two years, with Bell going on to earn first-team All-NCAC, first-team All-Great Lakes Region and honorable mention All-America awards in 2005 and 2006.

Centre, picked to finish seventh in the Southern Collegiate Athetic Conference (SCAC) in preseason polling, compiled records of 7-11 in the SCAC and 18-24 overall in 2006. Defiance finished 9-20 overall a year ago and 3-5 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Eastern is the preseason favorite to capture an 11th straight Pennsylvania Athletic Conference after capturing the regular season and tournament titles in 2006. Thomas More is coming off a 16-17 campaign in 2006, which culminated in a run through the President's Athletic Conference Tournament to advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament.