On Saturday, the Muhlenberg volleyball team was digging for a cure. In the picture, they are posing with the Dickinson players prior to the first of five Centennial Conference matches this month dedicated to raising funds for Tanner’s Touch, a foundation that supports pediatric cancer research and families battling the dreaded disease.

This week, the Mules will be digging for some history.

Sweeps of Moravian and Dickinson last week extended Muhlenberg’s winning streak to 10 – one short of the school record – and ran its overall record to 17-2. That made the Mules only the 10th team in College athletic history to win 17 of its first 19 contests:

• 1944 men’s basketball 17-2
• 1945 men’s basketball 18-1
• 1946 men’s basketball 17-2
• 1989 softball 17-2
• 1989 men’s soccer 17-2
• 1994 men’s soccer 17-1-1
• 2001 women’s soccer 17-2
• 2002 women’s basketball 17-2
• 2006 women’s basketball 17-2
• 2014 volleyball 17-2

(Special mention to the 1941 men’s tennis team, which finished its season with a record of 16-2.)

The previous nine teams were, not surprisingly, some of the most successful in the history of those programs. The three basketball teams in the 1940s all played in the NIT, which at the time was the biggest postseason college basketball tournament. The 1989 softball and men’s soccer teams both won MAC championships, while men’s soccer in 1994, women’s soccer in 2001 and women’s basketball in 2006 all captured Centennial Conference crowns and advanced in the NCAA Tournament.

As a side note, the 1989 men’s soccer team finished with a record of 18-2, which doesn’t seem possible for a team that was 17-2 and headed to the postseason. But that year the MAC championship was played after the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Mules were 17-1 before losing to Montclair State in an NCAA first-round game, then ended their season with a 1-0 defeat of Elizabethtown in the MAC title game. Elizabethtown, by the way, went on to win the national championship.

Back to this year’s volleyball team – The Mules have three matches this week, on the road against Bryn Mawr, Washington and Lancaster Bible. If they win them all, they’ll break the school record for longest winning streak and also reach the 20-win plateau in only 22 matches. That would break the program record for fastest to 20 wins (both the 1992 and 1993 squads were 20-4) and tie for the second-fastest to win in College athletic history – second only to the 1945 men’s basketball team, which had 21 wins before suffering its second loss.

Football: Sophomore quarterback Nick Palladino was 20-of-31 for 183 yards and one touchdown in Saturday’s 24-20 win at Susquehanna. Nothing earth-shattering about those numbers, but what he didn’t do was just as significant as what he did.

For the fifth straight game, Palladino did not throw an interception. He has attempted 161 passes this season without getting picked off.

No quarterback in Division III has thrown more passes in 2014 without an interception.

In fact, out of more than 650 NCAA football-playing schools in FBS, FCS, Division II and Division III, only one quarterback has more attempts than Palladino without throwing a pick – Cody Kessler of USC.

In the last 50 years, no Muhlenberg QB has started the first five games of the season without getting intercepted. Palladino’s streak of passes without an interception is 163, dating back to last year’s ECAC South Atlantic bowl game.

Thanks to the similarly spotless record of backup quarterback Anthony Schwab, Muhlenberg is one of 20 teams in the NCAA’s four divisions that has not been picked off this year, and again, only USC has thrown more passes. Here is the complete list, with division and total attempts:

• Southern California (FBS) – 182
• Muhlenberg (III) – 176
• Oregon (FBS) – 149
• Guilford (III) – 144
• Widener (III) – 142
• Pittsburg State (II) – 153
• Washington (FBS) – 129
• Michigan Tech (II) – 127
• Wis.-Whitewater (III) – 120
• Shepherd (II) – 112
• Morgan State (FCS) – 111
• Whittier (III) – 108
• Montclair State (III) – 102
• St. John Fisher (III) – 98
• North Alabama (II) – 88
• Air Force (FBS) – 82
• Citadel (FCS) – 67
• Wesleyan – Conn. (III) – 59
• Gallaudet (III) – 28
• Luther (III) – 11

Palladino’s streak, and the Mules’, will last at least one more week, as the team takes its bye this week before returning to action next Saturday at home vs. Gettysburg.