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Women's Volleyball

UW-Oshkosh Crowned Champion Of Titan Tussle

Box Score

UW-Oshkosh, the American Volleyball Coaches Association's top-ranked NCAA Division III women's volleyball team, defeated two nationally-ranked opponents in five sets en route to a first-place finish at Titan Tussle held Friday and Saturday (Oct. 16-17) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (27-0) beat 24th-ranked Eastern University (Pa.) in game scores of 25-22, 15-25, 26-24, 18-25, 15-7 and St. Catherine University (Minn.) 25-18, 25-23, 25-20 on Friday. The Titans then edged ninth-ranked University of St. Thomas (Minn.) 21-25, 25-23, 17-25, 25-14, 15-12 and blanked Bethel University (Minn.) 25-23, 25-16, 25-20 on Saturday.

Katelyn Vara (Sr. • New Berlin) led UW-Oshkosh by dishing out 149 assists and added 35 digs. Jacque Ray (Sr. • Richland Center) powered down 52 kills and had 16 blocks, Christina Cahoon (Jr. • Watertown) scooped up 106 digs and Aleisha Bagin (Fr. • West Bend) contributed 35 kills.

The Titans also received 36 kills and 48 digs from Katie Beining (Sr. • Brookfield), 27 kills and 55 digs from Andrea Smith (Jr. • Fond du Lac) and 45 digs from Brittney Cote (So. • Orland Park, Ill.).

UW-Oshkosh was extended to a deciding fifth stanza before dominating Eastern University in the final set.

Hitting errors proved costly for the Titans, as they committed 10 each in sets two and four, both losses. In the deciding fifth-set UW-Oshkosh had a match-high .368 hitting percentage on eight kills in 19 attempts to take home the victory.
Eastern University (18-3) led 16-14 in set one before UW-Oshkosh scored five consecutive points to take a 19-16 advantage. The Titans led 24-19 before the Eagles made it close, closing to within 24-22 before the hosts put the set away.

The Eagles dominated the second set, trailing only once at 2-1, while building leads of 13-7, 17-9 and 20-11 before settling for the 10-point win. UW-Oshkosh responded in the third set to take an 11-7 cushion before Eastern University inched back to tie the score at 18-18 and then went ahead 20-18. The Titans scored three of the next four points to knot the score at 21-21 and then took a 24-23 advantage. The Eagles fought off one set point, before UW-Oshkosh took a 2-1 set lead with two straight points.

After taking a 5-1 advantage to start set four, UW-Oshkosh was outscored 20-10 to trail 21-15. After the Titans tallied two straight points to inch to within 21-17, the Eagles closed the set with a 4-1 scoring skein to set up a fifth set.

The deciding stanza was all UW-Oshkosh as they build an early 4-1 lead and made the side-switch at 8-3. The Titans held six-point leads at 10-4 and 12-6, before scoring three of the last four points for the victory.

Beining led a trio of double-digit kill performances with 14, while adding 19 digs and three blocks. Bagin slammed down 13 kills and Ray 12 while adding four blocks. Vara directed the offense with 43 assists and Cahoon had a season-high 36 digs. The Titans only had one service ace, while recording only one receiving error.

The Titans notched its fifth straight win over St. Catherine University (14-10) in Friday's nightcap. Ray compiled 12 kills and Bagin 11. Vara dished out 28 assists and added seven digs and Cahoon led the defense with 17 digs. Smith and Cahoon each had three service aces.

In Saturday's action, UW-Oshkosh and the University of St. Thomas played to a deciding set for the fourth time in its last five meetings, four of which have been won by the Titans.

The University of St. Thomas (19-6) scored five of the last six points in the first set to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Titans started set two strong scoring the first four points before the Tommies tied the set at 5-5. The stanza was tied five more times before the University of St. Thomas captured a 22-19 advantage. The Tommies were within two points of taking a 2-0 set lead in the match before the Titans ran off the last five points of the set to pull out the two-point victory.

The University of St. Thomas stole the momentum back by scoring seven straight points to take a 17-8 advantage after a slim 10-8 cushion. The Titans could not get closer than seven points the rest of the way to fall by eight points in the third set.

The see-saw contest continued with UW-Oshkosh gaining control at 11-9 by tallying a seven-point run of their own to go up 18-9 in set four. The Titans cruised from there to set up another classic five-set battle between the two institutions.

After the Titans scored the first point for the fifth set, the Tommies went up 4-1 after a four-point run. Trailing 6-3, UW-Oshkosh followed suit with its own four-point scoring skein to take a 7-6 advantage. The second tie of the contest at 7-7 started a string of six consecutive knotted scores before the Titans produced the last four points of the set after trailing 12-11 to take the match. Smith provided the spark UW-Oshkosh needed by recorded six kills in the stanza, including kills on the Titans last three points.

Cahoon led five UW-Oshkosh players in double-digit digs with 34 as the Titans had a season-high 125 in the match. Beining added 19 digs and four blocks, Smith 18 digs and nine kills, Cote 17 digs, Vara 15 digs and 40 assists and Ray 14 kills and five blocks. UW-Oshkosh hit only .160 in the match, but had hitting percentages of .316 and .276 in sets four and five, respectively. The Titans are now unbeaten in their last 14 five-set matches.

UW-Oshkosh extended its home match winning streak to 29 contests with its sweep of Bethel University (10-16), its 14th 3-0 win of the season. After nearly blowing a 24-18 lead in the first set, the Titans powered past the Royals to win its fourth tournament title of the season.

Ray led the Titans with 14 kills and had five blocks while Beining provided 10 kills and six digs. Cahoon converted 19 digs, Smith 15 and Vara 10 to go along with 38 assists.

Vara was named the most outstanding player of the tournament and was joined by Ray on the ten-person all-tournament squad. Other players capturing all-tournament team honors included Amy Werner of Bethel University, Lauren Dembkowski and Katie Lundgren of Carthage College, Maria Horning of Eastern University, Emily Cory of Luther College (Iowa), Maria Hoffman of St. Catherine University and Kyley Crotty and Emily Foster of the University of St. Thomas.