Stacy, Minn.
Rauen closed out her Phoenix home career as she became UW-Green Bay's career digs leader in a Senior Day win over UIC Saturday. After posting 18 digs in a three-game sweep of Loyola Friday, she collected 23 more in a thrilling five-game win Saturday against the Flames. The 41 digs brought her career total to 1,447, surpassing the previous mark of 1,435 held by Janelle Tomlinson (2000-03). In the two matches, Rauen averaged 5.12 digs per game. She was also solid at the net with a total of seven blocks.
Other Top Performances for the Week
Jordan Bateman
Cleveland State
So., Libero, Nelsonville, Ohio
Bateman topped the 20-dig plateau for the seventh and eighth times this season, averaging 5.50 digs for the Vikings last week. On Friday against Wright State, she tallied a team-high 24 digs and two aces. The next day in a sweep against Butler, she led all players with 20 digs. For the weekend, she was aced just four times in 55 pass attempts.
Abby Bergsma
UW-Green Bay
So., Middle Blocker, Appleton, Wis.
Bergsma averaged 4.25 kills and 1.62 blocks per game as the Phoenix closed out its home season with a pair of Horizon League victories. She collected nine kills and four blocks in a sweep of Loyola on Friday before having a huge match in a five-game thriller in the home finale against UIC on Saturday. Bergsma put down a career-high 25 kills in the victory including six in the decisive fifth game. She was also key on the defensive end, collecting nine blocks in the match. Her 29.5 points in the match are the third most by a League player in a match this season.
Ruth Boscaljon
Youngstown State
Fr., Middle Hitter, Elgin, N.Y.
Boscaljon led the Penguins to their first Horizon League win since 2004 with 18 kills and four blocks against Wright State. In a four-game loss to Butler, Boscaljon posted 13 kills with a .310 hitting percentage and three blocks and five digs. For the week, Boscaljon averaged 3.44 kills per game with a .300 hitting percentage and six solo blocks.
Cheryl Hegemann
UW-Milwaukee
Sr., Middle Blocker, Waterford, Wis.
Hegemann collected a pair of career milestones in leading the Panthers to two wins and their fourth-straight Horizon League regular-season title. Friday night against UIC, Hegemann surpassed 1,000 kills for her career, becoming one of just seven players in UWM's Division I history to reach four figures. Then Saturday, Hegemann recorded career block number 404, making her the school's all-time blocks leader. For the weekend, Hegemann recorded a pair of double-doubles while just missing a triple-double Friday night (15 kills, 10 digs, 8 blocks). She averaged 3.5 kills , 2.5 digs and 1.38 blocks per game.
Michelle DeGeeter
Butler
Jr., Middle Blocker, Warsaw, Ind.
DeGeeter was one of Butlers' top defensive performers last week, registering seven total blocks at the net and notching 23 digs in the back row. Her 3.14 points per game were also the second-most for the Bulldogs last weekend.
Ambria Springer
UIC
Sr., Middle Blocker, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
In two matches for the Flames last weekend, senior Ambria Springer led UIC offensively, notching 50 kills and a .424 attack percentage. Springer also paced UIC at the net with ten blocks and added 13 digs. Springer led UIC with 20 kills, five blocks and a .421 attack percentage versus UW-Milwaukee. The senior then posted a career-high 30 kills and a .426 attack percentage, while totaling five blocks against UW-Green Bay.
Lexi Leonhard
Wright State
Fr., Libero, Temperance, Mich.
Leonhard collected 17 digs in a loss to IPFW on Tuesday. She then had 29 digs at Cleveland State before recording a season-high 30 digs at Youngstown State.
Courtney Ashley
Loyola
Sr., Outside Hitter, Naperville, Ill.
Ashley averaged 4.17 kills per game and recorded a pair of double-doubles last weekend as Loyola dropped matches to UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee. Ashley opened the weekend with 10 kills and 11 digs against the Phoenix before ripping a match-high 15 kills to accompany 14 digs as the Ramblers fell to UW-Milwaukee on Saturday.
News From Around the League
UW-Milwaukee (19-5, 11-1 HL)
With two wins this past weekend, UWM clinched its fourth-straight Horizon League regular-season title. Milwaukee has become the first League school since Notre Dame to win four-straight outright regular-season League crowns, with the Irish doing it from 1991-1994 when the League was known as the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. This is also the eighth regular-season League title under Kathy Litzau, who has led UWM to a 116-14 mark in League matches since 1997. The Panthers have also not finished below second-place in the League or lost more than three League matches since 1996.
Milwaukee's two wins extended the Panthers' current winning streak to 10-straight. They have now had a winning streak of at least seven matches in each of the last 10 seasons and a streak of at least 10-straight in each of the last four seasons. The school record winning streak is 14, set in 1997 and matched in 2000.
The Panthers' recent winning streak has pushed them within one win of the 20-win mark. If UWM can get there, it would mark the ninth time in the last 10 seasons the Panthers have reached the 20-win plateau. UWM has averaged more than 22 wins per season since 1997 and has won 25 matches three times.
UW-Green Bay (12-14, 6-6 HL)
With the two wins over Loyola and UIC last weekend, the Phoenix matched the 2005 total of eight home wins, a mark that ranks second in the program's Division I history.
Junior Betty Slinger collected 16 kills, 52 assists and 11 digs in Saturday's victory over UIC to raise her nation-leading triple-double total to eight. She also came up one kill and two digs shy of a triple-double in Friday's sweep of Loyola.
The Phoenix will close out their regular-season on the road this weekend as it travels to Wright State Friday and Butler Saturday.
Youngstown State (10-20, 1-12 HL)
With 343 kills this season, Ruth Boscaljon needs just 18 more to set the YSU freshman kills record. YSU's win against Wright State on Saturday was the program's first Horizon League victory since it defeated Loyola, 3-1, in 2004 and snapped a 33-match losing streak against League opponents. Boscaljon's 125 blocks rank eighth on the YSU single-season list.
Sophomore Karla Everhart became the sixth player in school history to record at least 1,000 assists in a single season with 1,076, which ranks seventh on the YSU single-season list. Senior Amanda Cindric moved into ninth on the YSU all-time digs list with 1,149 in her career.
Wright State (14-14, 8-4 HL)
Senior Jenny Schultz stretched her streak to seven consecutive double-doubles and now has 17 overall on the season as she picked up three more last week. Schultz had 16 kills and 10 digs against IPFW, 17 kills and 18 digs at Cleveland State and 18 kills and a career-high 30 digs at Youngstown State. Freshman libero Lexi Leonhard also had a season-best 30 digs against the Penguins.
The Raiders wrap up the regular-season this week by hosting UW-Green Bay on Friday and UW-Milwaukee on Saturday before staying at home to host the Horizon League Tournament.
Loyola (13-15, 6-7 HL)
Senior libero Ann Deelo is 16 digs away from tying Megan Knightley's (Butler 2002-05) Horizon League record of 1,737 career digs. Deelo picked up 16 digs in the loss to UW-Green Bay on Friday before finishing with a match-high of 25 digs as the Ramblers were swept by UW-Milwaukee on Saturday.
Loyola will finish up the regular-season at home as the Ramblers take on crosstown rival UIC on Thursday evening.
Cleveland State (17-8, 7-6 HL)
Cleveland State closes out the regular-season this Friday when the Vikings host Youngstown State. Seniors Margot Frederick and Danielle Siefker will be honored in a pre-match ceremony. CSU can assure itself of finishing no lower than fourth-place with a victory over the Penguins.
The Vikings pulled off an odd feat this season, splitting all six of its Horizon League weekends. CSU can improve to 10-2 on Fridays this year with a win over Youngstown State this week. CSU's seven Horizon League victories are the second-most in school-history, trailing only last year's senior laden squad that went 11-3 in the League.
The Vikings' 3-0 win over Butler was their 14th sweep of the season. Last year's squad tallied 12 sweeps en route to posting 19 victories.
Butler (8-19, 3-9 HL)
The Bulldogs swept the season series against Youngstown State with their 3-1 victory over the Penguins at the Beeghly Center on Friday.
Senior Krystal Hendrix touts 405 career block assists and stands just eight block assists away from reaching Amy Pickett's (1995-98) Butler career record of 413. Sophomore libero Nina Inic continues to be one of the top defensive players in the Horizon League, leading the Bulldogs with 5.66 digs per game in conference play.
Saturday's match against UW-Green Bay will serve as senior day for the Bulldogs. Hendrix and Susana Henri will be honored in a ceremony prior to the competition.
UIC (15-15, 8-5 HL)
In two matches last week, senior Ambria Springer led UIC on both sides of the net. The middle blocker recorded 50 kills, ten blocks and a .424 attack percentage. Freshman Lana Lobdell tied Springer, recording ten blocks on the weekend, while junior Katarina Nedeljkovic notched 31 digs, 35 kills and six blocks.
The Flames conclude regular-season action on Thursday when they travel to North Chicago for a crosstown showdown against Loyola at 7:00 p.m.
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