Wittenberg reached the Final Four three years in a row (2005-07). Two years ago, it lost in the second round of the national tournament. Last year, it lost in the first round to Calvin.
This season’s team, 28-2 and ranked second in the nation, is poised to make a long tournament run. It starts postseason play today and Saturday, hosting the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament at Pam Evans Smith Arena. It will also host the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament Nov. 11-13.
The Tigers built momentum for the postseason with a 16-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-9 victory over No. 4 Juniata on Oct. 26.
“I would say the confidence started building from last year even with a lot of the work we’ve been putting in since January, February and March,” coach Paco Labrador said. “We said we want to get to this point, and I think we’re all realizing what we’ve been doing for eight months is culminating with what we’re doing right now.”
Wittenberg faces the NCAC’s No. 4 seed, Denison, at 5:30 p.m. today. If it wins, it will play No. 2 Hiram or No. 3 Wooster in the tournament final at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Next week brings even tougher challenges as the Tigers host seven other teams in the regional tournament for the first time since 2008. The pairings will be announced Monday.
“It’s going to be a good event. It’s going to be rocking,” Labrador said. “We have one of the top two regions in the nation in terms of quality opponents we have to go through. There’s not going to be a cakewalk game. Our first-round match is probably going to be against a team that is very, very talented. In a way, it’s a good thing. We’re going to be ramping up and gearing up, and if we get through one regional bracket, we’ll know we’ve been playing at a high enough level to be a contender in the Elite Eight.”
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