WAVERLY, Iowa— Following an American Rivers Conference regular season and tournament championship, the No. 4 Wartburg College Knights will face in-state opponent Cornell College in an opening round match on Nov. 11.

This is the 12^th NCAA tournament appearance for the Knights (1997-98-2001-02-03-10-12-13-15-16-17-21).

The Knights will meet Cornell ­­­for the 51^st time in program history. The Knights hold a 32-17-1 record, with the Rams of Cornell winning that last two meetings in five sets.

Looking at Cornell

Cornell defeated Grinnell in a 3-1 win to secure the MWC Tournament championship and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Cornell has a balanced attacked, with three players averaging 2.90 kills per set (Rory Light, Alissa McEndaffer, and Ilah Perez-Johnson). Light holds at No. 5 national ranking in blocks per set (1.20). The Rams are led by freshman setter Clare Green, who ranks No. 16 in total assists. Fifth-year libero Sydney Meeker is making her third NCAA qualifier appearance, has tallied 533 digs this season.

Tournament Preview

Wartburg was selected as one of the eight regional sites as 64 teams compete for the chance to play in St. Louis. The winner of the regional tournament will advance to the Elite 8 in St. Louis, Missouri, Nov. 18-20.
 
Six teams within the AVCA top-25 will compete inside Levick Arena this weekend. The Knights welcome the No. 3 Claremont-Mudd Scripps, No. 11 Colorado College, No. 16 Ohio Northern, No. 21 Bethel, No. 22 Wisconsin-Stevens Point, (RV) Cornell College, and (RV) Aurora.
 
A-R-C Recap
 
Clinching the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Volleyball tournament wasn't easy as the No. 4 Wartburg Knights battled back from a 0-2 deficit to defeat the Coe College Kohawks, 3-2. The Knights dropped the opening two sets (23-25, 29-31) before battling back to take to final three sets (25-18, 25-23, 15-8).
Wartburg outhit the Kohawks throughout the five sets, .153 to .115, adding 18 blocks to their defensive battle.

As for the Knights, All-Conference honoree Zaiah Quirk led the Knights with 17 kills and 14 digs for a double-double. Jayme Willemssen added 14 kills with an attacking percent of .353, while Meister recorded 12 in the contest. All-Conference honoree Claire Marsh tallied 47 assists as a key part of the Knights offense. League MVP Kylie Bildstein added eight blocks, while Defensive Player of the Year, Katie Foster, recorded 25 digs to guide the Knights to the tournament crown.
 
The Knights are tournament champions for the first time since 2017 and earned the American Rivers Conference Automatic Qualifier to the NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament.
This is the Knights ninth tournament title (2002-03-10-12-13-15-16-17-21).
 
Honoring the Knights
 
With their comeback victory in the A-R-C championship, the Wartburg College Knights saw Bildstein and Foster sweep the weekly honors from the American Rivers Conference.
 
Foster recorded 5.63 digs per set in the A-R-C tournament, while recorded no ball handling errors. Bildstein added eight blocks in the tournament championship, after hitting a .625 against Dubuque in the semifinals.
 
Foster, the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Defensive Player of the Year, was named the AVCA Region IX Player of the Year.

A-R-C Most Valuable Player of the Year, senior middle blocker, Kylie Bildstein was named to the All-Region Team. Joining Bildstein and Foster on the All-Region team from the AVCA is senior setter Claire Marsh.

Co-head coaches Jennifer Walker and Doug Frazell were named the Region IX Coaches of the Year. Walker and Frazell led the Knights to the school's first-ever unbeaten regular season. Since the two began sharing head coaching duties in 2013, Wartburg has averaged 26 wins per season (excluding the 2020 season).
 
A Look at the Numbers Nationally (As of 11/07/21)
 
The Knights are one of two unbeaten teams in the nation, with the other unbeaten team being No. 1 Johns Hopkins. The Knights lead the conference in blocks per set, digs per set, kills per set, hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, and total team blocks.
 
Foster leads the A-R-C in digs per set (5.96) and ranks No. 8 nationally in this category. Bildstein leads the A-R-C in blocks per set (.96), hitting percentage (.427), and total blocks (92). Bildstein is ranked No. 4 in the nation in hitting percentage. Marsh is second in the conference in assists per set (10.29) and has recorded 988 total assists this season.
 
Rising in the Polls
 
After starting the season unranked, the Knights landed at the No. 4 spot in the latest AVCA poll.
 
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