FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech volleyball team looks to push its winning streak to five on Wednesday as they host Marygrove in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) action.
 
Indiana Tech (15-10, 10-5 WHAC)
 
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7 p.m. vs. Marygrove College (4-20, 2-13 WHAC) – Fort Wayne, Indiana (Schaefer Center)
 
Follow Along: Links to live video and stats will be available at IndianaTechWarriors.com. You can also check out the action on Twitter by following @IndianaTechVB and @INTechWarriors.
 
Last Time Out: The Warriors capped off a 3-0 week with a pair of wins over Davenport and Aquinas on Saturday at the Concordia Crossover. Tech defeated the Panthers in four games to complete the season sweep and came back to win in five sets over the Saints. Taylor Kelso matched the program record for digs in a match with 37 in the Aquinas matchup. Cassie Sarabia had double-digit kills in both games while Katelyn St. Martin added 47 digs and 23 kills over both matchups.
 
Head Coach Kourtney Wilson: Now entering her fourth year at the helm for the Indiana Tech volleyball team, head coach Kourtney Wilson holds a 70-53 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: Marygrove – The Mustangs are coming off their second conference win after defeating Northwestern Ohio in five sets at the Lawrence Tech Crossover on Saturday. Rachel Staudt leads the team in kills with 228 and is hitting a team-high .280. Amber Kelly and Erica Wilson each have over 230 digs and Haley Jury leads the team in assists with 594.
 
Series History: Marygrove – Tech defeated the Mustangs in four sets back on Sept. 16 in Detroit for their fifth straight win in the series dating back to 2012.
 
Making Her Way into the Record Books: Junior libero Taylor Kelso made history this past weekend at the Concordia Crossover. In the come-from behind five-set victory, Kelso recorded 37 digs to tie former standout Kayla Hartman's record. The Colonel Crawford High School product now has 528 digs on the season and needs 190 more to reach the programs single season record, also held by Hartman.
 
We're Going to Need a Bigger Shelf: Kelso picked up her third WHAC Defender of the Week Award this week on Oct. 19 after recording 81 digs over three games for the week of Oct. 12-18. Kelso tied the program record for digs in a match with 37 on Saturday against Aquinas and picked up 24 against Davenport and 20 in the win over Concordia. She is the first player in the league to win the weekly award three times this year.
 
A Look at the Standings: With only seven conference games left on the slate, the Warriors find themselves in fourth place at 10-5. If the season ended today, Tech would face off with Aquinas in the WHAC Tournament quarterfinals. Undefeated and 19^th ranked Lourdes sits atop the WHAC standings at 15-0, while No. 22 Madonna has only two blemishes on its conference record at 13-2. Cornerstone sits just a game ahead of the Orange and Black at 11-4, while Davenport and Aquinas are two game back. The top eight teams will make the WHAC Tournament, which will be held Nov. 13-14 at the location of the top seed.
 
Hitting Machines: The trio of Cassie Sarabia, Jazmin Alexander and Katelyn St. Martin all rank in the top-25 in the WHAC in total kills. Sarabia leads the team with 298, the fifth most in the conference, while Alexander is 16^th with 227 and St. Martin has 208 kills and ranked 21^st.
 
All-Around Player: Senior Katelyn St. Martin finds herself all over the floor for the Warriors and shows up all over the stat sheet for the Orange and Black. The Zionsville, Indiana, native ranks first on the team in aces (30), second in digs (259) third on the team in kills (208) and is seventh in total blocks (17). She's recorded 20-plus digs in three straight matches, even leading the team with 23 against Concordia on Oct. 14, which was the first time all season Taylor Kelso did not lead the Warriors in that category.
 
Sharing the Rock: Setters Karli Jones and Mara Zell have combined for 856 assists and altogether the Warriors have 1,077, good for 45^th in the nation. Tech's 11.46 assists per set ranks 45^th in the country as well. Those numbers are good for third and fourth in the WHAC, respectively.
 
Liz Tourney Right around the Corner: The Indiana Tech volleyball team will be hosting the annual Liz Lykowski this 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 for 12 matches over the two days. 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. A full preview of the tournament will be posted on Thursday at IndianaTechWarriors.com.
 
National Acclaim: Junior outside hitter Cassie Sarabia made Indiana Tech history when she was named the NAIA National Attacker of the Week back on Sept. 29. Sarabia is the first Tech player to garner the national award and was 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: Juniors Cassie Sarabia and Taylor Kelso were chosen at the WHAC Attacker and Defender of the Week, respectively, for two weeks in a row on Sept. 21 and 28. Sarabia had 91 kills over the two weeks and had two games where she hit over .300. Kelso had 132 digs over the same stretch.
 
Digging Force: Taylor Kelso has made a living diving on the floor over her three years with the Warriors. She has 1,690 digs for her career and moved into third place all-time at Tech on Sept. 26 when she recorded a then 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 five times in her career. Her 5.62 digs per set currently ranks 13^th in the nation and leads the WHAC, while she also leads the conference and is ranked 15^th in the nation in total digs with 528.
 
Block Party: Freshman Gabby Staggs has made her living at the net this season. She ranks tied for second in the WHAC in blocks per set (1.05) and is second in total blocks (96). Nationally, the Goshen, Indiana, native ranks in a tie for 32^nd in total blocks and is tied for 40^th in blocks per set. 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 (124).
 
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.