Titans Split Home Matches With Blue Devils, Scarlet Hawks

The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team split two matches, dropping a 3-0 conference contest to UW-Stout before earning a 3-0 non-conference win over Illinois Institute of Technology on Saturday (Oct. 11) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (19-3, 2-2 WIAC) lost in set scores of 25-20, 25-20, 25-21 to UW-Stout. The Titans had little trouble against Illinois Institute of Technology and took the match in sets of 25-12, 25-16, 25-16.

UW-Stout outhit UW-Oshkosh .265 to .125 and swept the Titans for the second time in a week. UW-Oshkosh hit just .115 in a non-conference loss to the Blue Devils on Oct. 4 in La Crosse.

UW-Oshkosh finished with a 12-5 advantage in blocks, but the Blue Devils had more kills (42-33) and digs (60-55) while recording the only service ace of the match.

UW-Stout (15-7, 2-2 WIAC) recorded kills on the first five points of the match. The Blue Devils built their lead to 15-5 and never trailed in the opening set. UW-Oshkosh held a 15-13 edge in kills and pulled within 22-18, but eight attack errors stalled its effort.

In Set 2, UW-Oshkosh had a four-point run to pull within 11-10, but the Blue Devils, who hit .333 in the set, went on a five-point run later in the frame to increase their lead to 23-16.

Set 3 was tied 12 times before UW-Stout took a 15-14 lead it wouldn't relinquish. Leading 21-19, the Blue Devils went on a three-point run behind two kills and a Titan attack error. The Titans staved off two match points before a service error ended the match.

UW-Stout's Laura Reiter had 14 kills to rank as the only player in double figures. Karley Wiensch had a match-high 34 assists and 13 digs.

Katelyn Malcheski and Allison Rueger led UW-Oshkosh with eight kills apiece. Lexi Thiel had 29 assists and Mandy Trautmann 14 digs for the Titans.

UW-Oshkosh rebounded by hitting .321 during a convincing sweep over Illinois Institute of Technology in which all 16 Titans saw action.

Illinois Institute of Technology, which held its only lead on the first point of the match, was limited to 20 kills on .049 hitting. The Scarlet Hawks, an NCAA Division III provisional program, hit .061 in Set 1 and .000 in Set 3.

Malcheski paced the UW-Oshkosh offense with 11 kills on .556 hitting in two sets played. Nerissa Vogt and Jessica Fischer added six kills apiece. Thiel and Trautmann had match-highs with 22 assists and 17 digs, respectively.

Leading 12-8 in the opening set, UW-Oshkosh went on a nine-point run that featured two of the team's eight service aces and four kills by Malcheski.

The Titans led by at least two points after building 6-2 leads in both of the final two sets.

Irene Grauzinis led Illinois Institute of Technology (8-14) with five kills.

UW-Oshkosh hosts a conference match against UW-La Crosse on Wednesday (Oct. 15) in Kolf Sports Center.