FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech volleyball will returns to Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) action this week with a trio of games, all of which will be played in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On Wednesday the Warriors will take on Concordia and look to avenge a loss from earlier in the year. On Saturday, Tech will be back in Ann Arbor for the Concordia Crossover, where they will take on Davenport and Aquinas.
 
Indiana Tech (12-10, 7-5 WHAC)
 
Wednesday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m. at Concordia University (16-12, 5-7 WHAC) – Ann Arbor, Michigan (Concordia Gym)
Saturday, Oct. 17, 1 p.m. vs. Davenport University (15-14, 7-5 WHAC) – Ann Arbor, Michigan – Concordia Crossover (Concordia Gym)
Saturday, Oct. 17, 3 p.m. vs. Aquinas College (11-10, 6-6 WHAC) – Ann Arbor, Michigan – Concordia Crossover (Concordia Gym)
 
Follow Along: You can also check out the action on Twitter by following @IndianaTechVB and @INTechWarriors.
 
Last Time Out: The Warriors split a pair of games at the University of Saint Francis (Illinois) Big Guns Classic over the weekend. Tech would drop its opening match to Marian, 3-0, before defeating the hosts in four games. Jazmin Martin led the Warriors against the Fighting Saints with 16 kills while Cassie Sarabia added 12 kills and four aces. Katelyn St. Martin recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs and Taylor Kelso added 23 digs. Karli Jones had a game-high 29 assists. Against the Knights, Gabby Staggs had 10 kills and three total blocks, while Kelso added 12 digs. Sarabia had nine digs and six kills and St. Martin added seven digs and six kills.
 
Head Coach Kourtney Wilson: Now entering her fourth year at the helm for the Indiana Tech volleyball team, head coach Kourtney Wilson holds a 67-53 record, the second most wins in program history. Last season, Wilson led the Warriors to an 18-17 record, finishing eighth in the WHAC with a 9-13 mark before losing to #15 Davenport in the WHAC Tournament quarterfinals. She has coached 18 WHAC All-Academic team members, 10 All-Conference selections, nine NAIA Scholar-Athletes, one All-Freshman team selection in Taylor Kelso, and one NAIA All-American, Kelsey Cox. In her first season at the helm, Wilson led her squad to a 25-12 record with a 9-2 mark in conference play. The Warriors finished the year third in the WHAC standings and advanced all the way to the conference tournament semifinals.
 
Scouting the Opposition: Concordia – The Cardinals are on a four-match losing streak and have only won one set in that time. Autumn VanKirk leads the team with 278 kills and her 108 total blocks is tops in the conference. Julia Szuba leads the WHAC in digs with 454, while Alisha Anderson and Erica den Boer have 256 and 248, respectively. The Cardinals have three players with 20-plus aces and are first in conference in total block (212) and second in blocks per set (2.0).
 
Davenport – The Cardinals will host Aquinas on Wednesday before the Concordia Crossover this weekend. Davenport broke a two-game losing skid on Saturday by beating Indiana Wesleyan in three sets at their home invitational. Molly Lameyer leads the WHAC in attack percentage with a .321 clip and is second in the league in kills with 321. Sami White is fourth in the conference in assists with 667, while Morgan Torres leads the team with 357 digs.
 
Aquinas – The Saints will travel to Davenport on Wednesday, but are on a three-match losing streak, most recently dropping a five-setter to St. Xavier University on Saturday at the Davenport Invitational. Michaela Ryan leads the team with 164 kills and 46 total blocks. Katlyn Agren has 246 digs to lead the Saints, while Brooke Wieland has 589 assists on the season.
 
Series History: Concordia – Tech dropped its first home match of the year to the Cardinals in three sets in Fort Wayne on Sept. 9, but is 7-3 against Concordia since 2009.
 
Davenport – The Warriors defeated the Panthers in five sets on Sept. 26 to snap a six-game losing streak. The Orange and Black are 8-11 against Davenport since 2006.
 
Aquinas – Tech lost its first match to the Saints, 3-0, back on Sept. 11, but is 5-4 since 2010.
 
A Look at the Standings: With only ten conference games left on the slate, the Warriors find themselves tied for fourth with Davenport at 7-5, making this weekend's games even more important. Undefeated No. 20 Lourdes sits atop the WHAC standings at 12-0, while No. 22 Madonna has only one blemish on its conference record at 11-1. Cornerstone sits two games ahead of Tech at 9-3, while Siena Heights and Aquinas are only a game back of the Orange and Black. The top eight teams will make the WHAC Tournament, which will be held Nov. 13-14 at the location of the top seed.
 
Liz Tourney Right Around the Corner: The Indiana Tech volleyball team will be hosting the annual Liz Lykowski next weekend, Oct. 23-24, at the Schaefer Center. Tech welcomes IU-East, Ave Maria University, IU-Southeast, Goshen College (Ind.) and the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) to the Summit City. The tournament was named for, and played in honor of, former Warrior, Elizabeth "Liz" Lykowski. On October 5, 2008, during her senior season, the defensive specialist tragically and suddenly lost her life to a congenital heart defect. A native of Ottawa Lake, Michigan and Whiteford High School product, Lykowski was one of the players that helped re-start the Indiana Tech volleyball program in 2005 and was an important part of the Warrior Volleyball program and will always be remembered at Indiana Tech. Her jersey is retired and hanging along the Wall of Honor in the Schaefer Center.
 
National Acclaim: Junior outside hitter Cassie Sarabia made Indiana Tech history this week when she was named the NAIA National Attacker of the Week on Sept. 29. Sarabia is the first Tech player to garner the national award and is coming off back-to-back WHAC Attacker of the Week Awards as well. The Rossford, Ohio native had 57 kills for the week of Sept. 21-27, including a career-high 25 kills against Davenport, two off tying the program record for a match. She recorded her second straight double-double against the Panthers with 15 digs and also hit a team-high .392. In the Warriors victory win against Cornerstone, she had a game-high 19 kills while also picking up 13 digs for her first double-double of the season and also had a team-high 13 kills in the win over Lawrence Tech on Sept. 23.
 
Twice As Nice: Junior libero Taylor Kelso picked up her second straight WHAC Defender of the Week Award on Sept. 28, joining classmate Cassie Sarabia as repeat winners. Kelso recorded 81 digs for the week of Sept. 21-27, including a season-high 33 against Davenport, her second 30-dig performance of the season. She was one off tying her career-high and four away from tying the program record for a match. The Crestline, Ohio native also led the team in digs in the wins over Cornerstone (28) and Lawrence Tech (20), and made only five reception errors in 15 sets of play. Kelso has recorded double-digit digs in every match except one this year.
 
Digging It: Taylor Kelso has made a living diving on the floor over her three years with the Warriors. She recently surpassed 1,500 digs for her career and moved into third place all-time at Tech on Sept. 26 when she recorded a season-high 33 against Davenport. She has only failed to break double-digit digs once this year, when she only notched nine against Concordia on Sept. 9. Kelso has reached 30 or more digs four times in her career. Her 5.45 digs per set currently ranks tied for 18^th in the nation and leads the WHAC, while she is second in the conference in total digs (447) and 26^th in the nation.
 
Block Party: Freshman Gabby Staggs has made her living at the net this season. She ranks first in the WHAC in blocks per set (1.13) and second in total blocks (89). Nationally, the Goshen, Indiana, native ranks in a tie for 24^th in blocks per set and is 27^th in total blocks. She reached the double-digit plateau for the first time this season against Lawrence Tech as she finished with 10 total blocks. She has played in all but three sets this fall and ranks fourth on the team in kills (107).
 
Going the Distance: All three of the Warriors victories for the week of Sept. 21-27 (Lawrence Tech, Cornerstone, and Davenport) went five sets. The wins over the Golden Eagles and Panthers also came within 24 hours of each other. The last time the Warriors had a three-match streak of playing all five sets came in 2013 when they opened the season with three straight five-setters at the St. Thomas (Fla.) Invitational. That fall they opened with a 3-2 victory over the hosts before dropping the next two matches to #19 Lindsey Wilson and RV Kansas Wesleyan.