Titans Sweep Lakers In Pizza Hut Classic Opener
The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team began its home opening Pizza Hut Classic with a 3-0 victory over first-time opponent Oswego State University (N.Y.) behind a season-best hitting percentage Friday (Sept. 6) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (3-2) hit .321 and recorded a season-best nine service aces during the 25-18, 25-17, 25-21 win. The Titans had a .417 hitting percentage in the first set and hit .429 with 14 kills during the second frame en route to handing Oswego State University (3-1) its first loss of the year.
Samantha Jaeke led all players with nine kills and four blocks for the Titans. Jaeke, who hit .412 Friday, has paced UW-Oshkosh in kills each match this season.
Shelby Coron and Kendall Enyart added six kills apiece for the Titans, who also received five kills from Taylor Allen, and four from both Kate Nottoli and Carissa Sundholm. Enyart hit a match-leading .500 on 12 errorless attempts while Allen hit .455 without an error and Coron hit .357.
Nottoli had five of the team's nine service aces. Rebecca Doughty and Emma Kiekhofer amassed 15 assists apiece while sharing setting duties for UW-Oshkosh. Rachel Gardner collected a match-high 11 digs. Gardner, who reached double-digit digs for the 18th consecutive match dating to last season, has now led the Titans in digs all five contests this year.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the match with advantages of 34-27 in kills, .321 to .127 in hitting percentage, 32-26 in assists, 29-24 in digs and 6.5 to 5.5 in blocks.
Nottoli had back-to-back aces that provided UW-Oshkosh a 5-2 lead it would not relinquish in the first set. The Titans then tallied five points in a row, including kills from both Coron and Nottoli, a solo block by Jaeke, and a double-block from Jaeke and Nottoli, to extend their lead to 16-9.
UW-Oshkosh took the lead for good in the second set at 11-9 following two straight service aces by Kiekhofer. Another Nottoli ace upped the Titan cushion to 20-13 before a pair of Lakers attack errors ended the frame nine points later.
The Titans raced out to a 13-8 lead in the third set, but Oswego State University responded with six unanswered points for a 14-13 edge. The set was tied for the seventh and final time at 17, when Enyart recorded three consecutive kills and combined with Nottoli for a block on the next five points as the Titans claimed a 21-17 advantage. The Lakers cut their deficit to 22-20 after a UW-Oshkosh attack error. However, the Titans secured their third sweep of the season with three of the following four points on a kill by Jaeke, a double-block from Jaeke and Nottoli to set up match-point, and a Coron termination that ended the contest.
Lauren Fie, Sarah Massey and Melissa Lussier led the Lakers with seven kills each while Julia Flohr had a match-best 23 assists.
UW-Oshkosh concludes play at the Pizza Hut Classic with matches against Wisconsin Lutheran College and Martin Luther College (Minn.) on Saturday (Sept. 7).