The 2002 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III volleyball championship is over, the trophy securely positioned in a trophy case in the Williams Center lobby, but some loose ends and random thoughts remain ...

The volleyball championship is the second national title for UW-W women's athletics, although that distinction can be reasonably debated.  The women's golf team won the Division III portion of the National Golf Coaches Association Division II-III championship played in Tallahassee, Florida in 1985.  At that time the NCAA did not conduct a Division III women's golf championship, combining all divisions into a single women's golf tournament.  Since this naturally favored Division I teams, the NGCA decided to conduct their own tourney where other teams could compete.  Only the top ten teams, using a computer formula, were invited to the NGCA championship, with approximately twenty-five teams eligible for consideration.  Weber State (UT) won the II-III overall title, followed by Troy State (AL), Longwood College (VA) and Rollins College (FL).  UW-W finished fifth overall, but as the top Division III finisher (one of two in the field; Concordia-Morehead declined the invitation to participate), was considered the Division III champion.  UW-W's Beth St. Thomas also earned All-American honors, placing fifteenth overall and first in Division III.

That means that the volleyball championship is also the fourth national title overall for UW-W, joining the two (1984 and 1989) earned by the men's basketball team.

Kris Russell (759-215), completing her 22nd year as UW-W head coach, has won more matches than all other Whitewater volleyball coaches combined.  Her predecesors, who pioneered the sport (and in some cases, athletics for women) at UW-W included Karen Fritz (5-3 in 1969), Virginia Harris (11-0 in 1970), Pat Lamb (7-4 in 1971), Kate Vonderau (9-30 for 1972-74), Syue MacConnie (26-89 for 1975-78), and Sue Lewis (39-42 in 79-80).  Lewis, in fact, was the first UW-W volleyball coach to take a team to postseason play, garnering an Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women berth after going 26-17-3 during the regular season in 1980.

The crowds for the 2002 championship at UW-W were down from the numbers that attended the 2001 semifinals/finals in Williams Center but that wasn't because of a lack of demand for tickets.  In 2001 the crowd for the championship match was listed at 1,692, after additional seating was created by moving reserved seating.  This year, attendance for the two nights was unofficially listed as 1,350 for Friday and 1,534 for Saturday.  Approximately 150 seats that were sold last year were not for sale this year, as the NCAA did not allow fan seating in the first row of the bleachers.

Whitewater's 3-0 win over Washington University (MO) in the championship match was not as rare as you might expect.  In the 22 years that the NCAA III championship has been held, half (11) have been 3-0.  The most recent was Whitewater's 3-0 loss to Central College (IA) in 2000.

UW-Whitewater ended Washington's season the last two season.  In 2001 the Warhawks defeated the Bears 3-2 in the quarterfinal match of the tournament.  As with the 2002 title match, last year's quarterfinal was played in Whitewater.

Although the 2002 championship was the third consecutive appearance among the final four teams for three UW-W seniors, none of them (Angie Wildish (Menomonee Falls/Menomonee Falls), Lindsay Tomasovich (Eau Claire/Regis), Kristin Dettman (Pulaski/Pulaski)) had previously been honored on the all-tournament team.

Like "Brer Rabbit", don't feel sorry for UW-W's Russell next year.  The cupboard, protestations aside, is not bare.  Tomasovich, the tourney MVP and also first team all-conference, has another year of eligibility.  Similar to Kristin Dettman (Pulaski/Pulaski), who was listed in 2001, Tomasovich can elect to play one more season.  Freshman hitter Abbie Mueller (West Bend/East), libero Michelle Stanislawski (Milwaukee/More), and middle blocker Megan Kay (Dickeyville/Cuba City) return.  Six other letterwinners return, and seven redshirts are ready to move into the lineup.

Russell is on a roll ...
In her twenty two years, Russell's teams:
Have never had a losing season (the closest was 22-18 in 1981, her first year)
Have been in double figures in losses eight times, but just once in the last eleven years and only three times in the last seventeen seasons
Posted a 33-15 record in NCAA III tournament play
In NCAA III play:  finished first in 2002, second in 2001, second in 2000, third in 1995 and fourth in 1988
Earned NCAA III championship tournament berths eleven straight years, and fifteen times overall