Titans Catch Muskies In Three Sets

Tina Elstner registered 12 kills and Shelby Coron five kills and a career-high seven blocks as the UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team secured a 3-0 victory over Lakeland University on Wednesday (Oct. 18) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (14-14) defeated Lakeland University (9-17) in set scores of 25-12, 25-19, 25-23. The Titans never trailed in the first and third sets on the way to winning their 21st consecutive meeting with the Muskies.

Elstner, who has tallied at least 12 kills during each of UW-Oshkosh's last seven contests, hit .312 in Wednesday's win. Coron also hit .312 on 16 errorless attempts while Carly Lemke had seven kills with a .333 attack percentage.

UW-Oshkosh's Samantha Jaeke contributed seven kills, a match-high 13 assists and three blocks. Rachel Gardner paced the Titans with 11 digs while Rebecca Doughty amassed 11 assists.

All 14 UW-Oshkosh players in uniform recorded at least one dig or one block.

UW-Oshkosh concluded the match with advantages in kills (35-32), hitting percentage (.220 to .053), assists (33-32), service aces (4-2), digs (50-42) and blocks (9.5-5). The Titans outhit the Muskies, .429 to -.091 in the first set and .244 to .000 in the second frame.

The Titans scored the first six points of the first set and increased their lead to 18-5 following a pair of attack errors by Lakeland University. The Muskies committed 12 hitting errors in the opening set, including four on blocks by UW-Oshkosh, before Jaeke ended the frame with a kill.

Lakeland University owned its last lead of the match at 3-2 in the second set. An attack error by the Muskies gave UW-Oshkosh the lead for good at 10-9, and a string of five consecutive points extended the Titans' advantage to 20-14. The decisive five-point spurt featured two kills from Alyssa Wolslegel and one kill apiece from Elstner and Lemke. The Muskies trimmed their deficit to 23-19, but a solo block by Coron and a kill by Jaeke gave UW-Oshkosh the win.

UW-Oshkosh raced out to an 8-2 lead in the third set, but the Muskies rallied to knot the score at 15 on a service ace. Tied at 18, a Lakeland University attack error was followed by a service ace by McKenna Micech and a kill by Coron for a 21-18 UW-Oshkosh edge. The Muskies notched three straight kills to pull within 23-22, and a Titan attack error cut the UW-Oshkosh lead to 24-23. However, a kill by Elstner on the ensuing point preserved the Titans' eighth 3-0 triumph of the season.

Lakeland University's Brittini Scoles led all players with 14 kills.

Taylor Bubolz had 12 assists for the Muskies, who also received a match-best 15 digs from Shelby Welsh and 13 digs from Allison Errthum.

The Titans open the two-day UW-Oshkosh Invitational by hosting Carthage College on Friday (Oct. 20) in Kolf Sports Center.