Rachel Gardner had 32 digs in Wednesday's two matches, including a season-high 23 against St. Norbert College.
Rachel Gardner had 32 digs in Wednesday's two matches, including a season-high 23 against St. Norbert College.

Titans Split With Vikings, Green Knights

Samantha Jaeke had a team-leading 18 kills on the day and Rachel Gardner recorded 32 digs as the UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team split a pair of matches Wednesday (Sept. 11) in Stevens Point.

UW-Oshkosh (6-3) swept Lawrence in set scores of 25-16, 25-7, 25-15 before falling, 3-1, to St. Norbert College by scores of 25-17, 23-25, 19-25, 25-27. The Titans, who had their six-match winning streak snapped against the Green Knights, have won each of their 29 meetings with Lawrence University.

In the victory over Lawrence University (1-9), the Titans outhit the Vikings, .375 to .000, and tied their season high with nine service aces. UW-Oshkosh has now hit better than .320 during three of its last four matches.

The Titans finished the match with considerable advantages in kills (33-17), assists (29-17), digs (36-25), service aces (9-3) and blocks (2-0).

UW-Oshkosh's Rachel Aasby and Samantha Jaeke had a team-leading seven kills apiece. Aasby, Jaeke, Shelby Coron (five kills), Taylor Allen (three kills), Claire Bresser (one kill) and Rebecca Doughty (one kill) combined to hit .571 for the Titans on 42 errorless attempts. Jaeke led all players with eight points and two blocks.

Emma Kiekhofer and Doughty registered 12 and nine assists, respectively, while sharing UW-Oshkosh setting duties. Rachel Gardner added a team-high nine digs. Becky Brezen had four service aces for the Titans.

The Titans seized control of the opening set with seven consecutive points for a 15-5 lead. UW-Oshkosh upped its cushion to 21-9 on a Jaeke kill and capped the frame with a kill from Carissa Sundholm and a service ace by Gardner.

UW-Oshkosh scored 20 of the final 23 points of the second set as the Titans outhit the Vikings, .346 to -.065, in the frame. Leading 11-7, the Titans tallied each of the last 14 points behind the serve of Sundholm, including eight on kills.

The Titans then jumped out to a 15-4 lead in the third set before Sundholm concluded the match with a kill.

Emily Hoeft paced the Vikings with five kills on -.056 hitting, nine digs and two service aces. Lawrence University's Averie Miller had a match-best 13 assists.

During the setback against St. Norbert College, the Green Knights rallied to win despite being outhit, .196 to .168. St. Norbert College scored the final five points of the second set and the last three points of the fourth frame.

St. Norbert College (6-4) held narrow advantages in kills (47-45), assists (45-42), digs (68-67) and service aces (11-10). UW-Oshkosh had a 5-2 edge in blocks.

The Green Knights' Grace Baumann led all players with 18 points and 15 kills to go along with 14 digs and three service aces.

Emily Terry contributed 12 kills and 10 digs for St. Norbert College, which also received a match-best 40 assists from Emily Rohloff and 23 digs from Liz Maastricht.

Jaeke paced UW-Oshkosh with 12.5 points and 11 kills.

Gardner had a season-high 23 digs for the Titans while Kiekhofer (20) and Doughty (16) combined for 36 assists. Brezen added three service aces in the nightcap to finish with seven on the day.

UW-Oshkosh hit .429 en route to winning the first set comfortably as the Titans claimed the final four points on kills by Jaeke, Sundholm and Kendall Enyart, and a Kiekhofer service ace.

The second set was tied on nine occasions and featured six lead changes. Knotted at 23, St. Norbert College finished off its five-point set-ending run on a pair of Titan errors.

The Green Knights tallied five consecutive points for a 19-15 lead in the third set and led by at least three points for the remainder of the frame. St. Norbert College's decisive five-point run included kills from Terry and Lexie Van Hiel, a service ace by Baumann, and a pair of UW-Oshkosh errors.

The fourth set had 18 ties and seven lead changes as neither team led by more than three points the entire frame. UW-Oshkosh's Morgan Dunn capped a string of three straight Titan points with a service ace that tied the score at 19. The Green Knights reached match-point at 24-22, but UW-Oshkosh pulled within one point on a St. Norbert College service error before another Green Knights error knotted the score at 24. Sundholm then notched a service ace that gave the Titans set-point at 25-24, but St. Norbert College accounted for each of the last three points on a kill from Terry and two terminations in a row by Colleen DeLisle.

UW-Oshkosh is off until hosting UW-La Crosse in the conference opener next Wednesday (Sept. 18).