FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech volleyball team heads into the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament (WHAC) Tournament in Sylvania, Ohio this weekend as the fifth seed and will take on fourth-seeded Siena Heights in the quarterfinals on Friday.
 
Indiana Tech (21-15, 13-9 WHAC)
 
Friday, Nov. 13, 5 p.m. vs. Siena Heights (21-10, 13-9 WHAC) – Sylvania, Ohio (Tam-O-Shanter)
Saturday, Nov. 14, 12:30 p.m. vs. Lourdes/Northwestern Ohio (WHAC Semifinals) – Sylvania, Ohio (Tam-O-Shanter)
Saturday, Nov. 14, 6 p.m. vs. TBA (WHAC Championship) – Sylvania, Ohio (Tam-O-Shanter)
 
Follow Along: Links to live stats for every match of the tournament can be found at IndianaTechWarriors.com. You can also follow the action on Twitter by following @IndianaTechVB and @INTechWarriors.
 
Last Time Out: The Warriors closed out the regular on a high note for Senior Day as they defeated Northwestern Ohio in four sets last Saturday. Junior Taylor Kelso etched her name into the record books earlier in the day against Cornerstone when she became the new holder for most digs in a single season, surpassing former standout Kayla Hartmann's record of 718 set back in 2011.
 
Head Coach Kourtney Wilson: Now entering her fourth year at the helm for the Indiana Tech volleyball team, head coach Kourtney Wilson holds a 76-58 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: Siena Heights – The Saints come into the conference tournament having won 10 of their last 11 matches, including five in a row, and only dropping two sets over that time. Leze Vukaj leads the team in kills (351), hitting percentage (.308) and blocks (120) and ranks seventh, fourth and tied for third in the WHAC, respectively. Carly Tillotson has dished out 964 assists on the season and Nicole Morgan has 469 digs.
 
Series History: Siena Heights – Tech is 17-2 against the Saints since 2005, but dropped both meetings this year in three sets.
 
Digging Her Way into the Record Books: Junior libero Taylor Kelso has etched her name into the Tech record books twice this season. Back on Oct. 17 at the Concordia Crossover against Aquinas, she recorded 37 digs to tie former standout Kayla Hartman's single game record. The Colonel Crawford High School product then broke Hartman's single season record when she picked up 23 digs against Cornerstone on Nov. 7 to give her 719 on the year. She now stands at 744 digs on the season.
 
Tourney Time: Tech has qualified for the WHAC Tournament every year since the program restarted back in 2005 and this the Warriors best finish in the regular season since 2012 when Wilson first took over at the helm. That year they advanced to the conference semifinals before falling to Davenport.
 
We're Going to Need a Bigger Shelf: Kelso picked up her third WHAC Defender of the Week Award 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.
 
Hitting Machines: The trio of Cassie Sarabia, Jazmin Alexander and Katelyn St. Martin all rank in the top-20 in the WHAC in total kills. Sarabia leads the team with 3430, third most in the conference and tied for 29^th in the country. St. Martin is tied for 13^th in the conference with 301, while Alexander ranks 17^th with 288. Sarabia and St. Martin also rank in the top-20 in kills per set with 3.36 and 2.51, good for third and 17^th, respectively, while Alexander is tied for 22^nd a 2.34 average.
 
All-Around Player: Senior Katelyn St. Martin is one of the most valuable players for the Warriors, playing all six positions and showing up all over the stat sheet for the Orange and Black. The Zionsville, Indiana native ranks first on the team in aces (38), second in digs (382), kills (301), and kills per set (2.51) and is seventh in total blocks (29). 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 also passed 1,000 career digs this year.
 
National Acclaim: Junior outside hitter Cassie Sarabia made Indiana Tech history on Sept. 29 when she was named the NAIA National Attacker of the Week. 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 1,906 digs for her career, the second most all-time at Tech. 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 774 digs on the season is the fifth most in the nation and lead the WHAC, while her 5.68 digs per set currently ranks 13^th in the nation and leads the conference as well.
 
Block Party: Freshman Gabby Staggs has been an intimidating presence at the net this season for Tech. She ranks second in the WHAC in total blocks (125) and fifth in the WHAC in blocks per set (0.98). Nationally, the Goshen, Indiana native ranks 33^rd 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 (199).
 
This and That: As a team, the Warriors are ranked in the top-50 in seven categories. They are tied for 16^th in assists (1,525), 18^th in kills (1,645), 32^nd in digs (2,136), 39^th in assists per set (11.64), 42^nd in kills per set (12.56), tied for 48^th in total blocks (242) and 50^th in digs per set (16.13).
 
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.