FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech volleyball team hosts the annual Liz Lykowski Memorial Tournament at the Schaefer Center this weekend. Tech welcomes in Ave Maria University, Goshen College, Indiana University East, Indiana University Southeast and the University of the Cumberlands for 12 matches over 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.
 
Indiana Tech (16-10, 11-5 WHAC)
 
Friday, Oct. 23, 2 p.m. vs. IU East (17-12) – Fort Wayne, Indiana (Schaefer Center)
Friday, Oct. 23, 6:30 p.m. vs. Ave Maria University (13-11) – Fort Wayne, Indiana (Schaefer Center) "Liz Game"
Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m. vs. IU Southeast (14-9) – Fort Wayne, Indiana (Schaefer Center)
Saturday, Oct. 24, 2:30 p.m. vs. University of the Cumberlands (20-7) – Fort Wayne, Indiana (Schaefer Center)
 
Full Schedule: http://www.indianatechwarriors.com/sports/2014/10/16/WVB_Lykowski.aspx?path=wvball
 
Follow Along: Links to live video and stats will be available for all Tech matches at IndianaTechWarriors.com. Links for live stats will be available for all games. You can also check out the action on Twitter by following @IndianaTechVB and @INTechWarriors.
 
Last Time Out: The Warriors defeated Marygrove on Wednesday in three sets to complete the series sweep. Tech hit .203 for the match, including a blistering .452 in the first set. Gabby Staggs and Keasia Carlisle both hit over .600 for the match as they finished with nine and seven kills, respectively. Cassie Sarabia led the team in kills with 14 and also added nine digs, two aces and two blocks. Taylor Kelso had a game-high 23 digs while Katelyn St. Martin added 15 digs and two blocks. Mara Zell dished out 21 assists while Karli Jones recorded 16.
 
Head Coach Kourtney Wilson: Now entering her fourth year at the helm for the Indiana Tech volleyball team, head coach Kourtney Wilson holds a 71-53 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: IU East – The Red Wolves had their five-match winning streak snapped on Tuesday when they fell to Asbury in five sets. Mallory Livingston leads the team in kills with 395 and is hitting .234 on the season. Abbey Ketcheum has dished out 800 assists while Madison Yoder has 455 digs to lead IU East.
 
Ave Maria – The Gyrenes have dropped two straight, most recently falling to Webber International on Tuesday in three sets. Lexy Smith leads the team in kills (288) and hitting percentage (.379). Veronika Garcia and Lauren Ruby have both dished out over 320 assists and Monique Rivers leads the team in digs with 208.
 
IU Southeast – The Grenadiers have lost two in a row after winning their seven previous matches. Hannah Joly leads the team in kills with 244 and is hitting .233 on the year. Hannah Barker leads the team in assists with 712 while three players, Taylor Sutton, Monica Loftus and Joly, all have over 210 digs each.
 
University of the Cumberlands – The Patriots have won two in a row heading into the weekend. Jennifer Philpot leads the team in kills with 259, while Megan Ganser is right behind with 251. Ganser leads the Patriots in hitting percentage with a .328 clip. Samantha Stuckwiasch has 583 assists on the season and Lynsey Short has 384. Sydney Beck has a team-high 405 digs, while Philpot has 282.
 
Goshen – The Maple Leafs defeated St. Francis (Ind.) on Wednesday in five sets to bounce back after a five-set loss to Bethel on Friday. Hallie Vanitvelt, Lexa Magnuson and Whitney Peterson all have over 227 kills each, while Magnuson leads the team with a .331 hitting percentage. Lisa Rodriguez and Kelsey Smith have 484 and 462 assists, respectively, while Danielle Plank paces the Maple Leafs with 300 digs.
 
Series History: IU East – The Warriors are is 8-1 all-time against the Red Wolves, including a three-set win last season.
 
Ave Maria – This is the first meeting between the two teams.
 
IU Southeast – Tech is 1-0 all-time against the Grenadiers, winning in four sets last year in Fort Wayne.
 
University of the Cumberlands – This is the first matchup between the two schools.
 
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 six conference games left on the slate, the Warriors find themselves tied with RV Cornerstone for third place at 11-5. If the season ended today, Tech would face off with Siena Heights in the WHAC Tournament quarterfinals. Undefeated and 17^th ranked Lourdes sits atop the WHAC standings at 16-0 and 21-0 overall, while No. 22 Madonna has only two blemishes on its conference record at 14-2. The Orange and Black hold a two-game lead over Davenport while Siena Heights sits three back of Tech. The Warriors remaining WHAC schedule includes Lawrence Tech, Madonna, Siena Heights, Lourdes, Cornerstone and Northwestern Ohio. The top eight teams will make the WHAC Tournament, which will be held Nov. 13-14 at the location of the regular season champion.
 
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 312, the fourth most in the conference, while Alexander is 15^th with 231 and St. Martin has 209 kills and is 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 (274) third on the team in kills (209) and is seventh in total blocks (19). She's recorded 20-plus digs in three straight matches from Oct. 14-17, 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. The Hamilton Southeastern High School product recently passed 1,000 career kills as well.
 
Sharing the Rock: Setters Karli Jones and Mara Zell have combined for 893 assists and altogether the Warriors have 1,119, good for 45^th in the nation. Tech's 11.54 assists per set ranks 41^st in the country. Those numbers are good for fourth and third in the WHAC, respectively.
 
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 1,713 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 5.68 digs per set currently ranks in a tie for ninth in the nation and leads the WHAC, while she also leads the conference and is ranked 17^th in the nation in total digs with 551.
 
Block Party: Freshman Gabby Staggs has made her living at the net this season. She ranks third in the WHAC in blocks per set (1.03) and is second in total blocks (97). Nationally, the Goshen, Indiana, native ranks in a tie for 36^th in total blocks and is tied for 44^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 (133).
 
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.