Posted November 5 2001, 05:57 pm
Posted by: Ryan Maurer
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Wittenberg University women’s volleyball team, ranked No. 9 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll, took care of business last weekend by winning the North Coast Athletic Conference volleyball tournament championship on its home court. As a result, the Tigers have earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament and the No. 2 seed in the Great Lakes Regional, which will be hosted by the College of Mt. St. Joseph in Cincinnati.
Wittenberg, the second seed with a 26-8 overall record, gets a first round bye. The Tigers, who are making their sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament and seventh since 1993, will play at 5 p.m., Friday, Nov. 9 at Mt. St. Joseph. They will face the winner of a first round match between No. 3 seed Ohio Northern University (26-8), the Ohio Athletic Conference champion and winner of the Wittenberg Tournament earlier this year, and No. 6 seed Johnson & Wales (21-12), champions of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference. On the other side of the bracket, the host Mountie Lions are the No. 1 seed for the second straight year.
Coached by Connie Surowicz, the Tigers have participated in the national tournament every year since 1996. While Wittenberg has dominated the conference, compiling a 61-3 regular season NCAC record since Surowicz arrived in 1994 and winning eight of the last 10 tournament crowns, the Tigers are 4-6 in NCAA tournament action. Two of those NCAA wins came last year in the same Great Lakes Regional as Wittenberg defeated the U.S. Merchant Marines and Ohio Northern before falling to the top-seeded host team, Mt. St. Joseph, for the fifth time in the 2000 season.
The Tigers have a deep, balanced team in 2001 that doesn’t include any seniors. Leading the charge are a pair of precocious freshmen, outside hitter Monica McDonald (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) and setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson), the team leaders in kills and assists, respectively. Junior middle hitter Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw) is the team leader in blocks and was named the NCAC Tournament MVP, while junior outside hitter Teresa Murphy (Blacklick, Ohio/Newark Catholic), the 2000 NCAC tournament MVP, tops the squad in digs and ranks second in kills. The Tigers’ eight losses are all to teams ranked in the top 15 nationally, including two to Mt. St. Joseph.