Titans Sweep Falcons, Remain Atop WIAC Standings
Samantha Jaeke led all players with 14 kills, Kendall Enyart added a career-high 10 terminations and the UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team remained perfect in conference play with a 3-0 victory over UW-River Falls on Saturday (Oct. 5) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (14-5, 3-0 WIAC) swept UW-River Falls in set scores of 25-17, 25-17, 26-24. The Titans, who won their ninth consecutive match over the Falcons, have not lost a set in five home matches this season.
The Titans remain tied with UW-Whitewater atop the WIAC standings with four league matches remaining. UW-Whitewater (14-3, 3-0 WIAC), which plays in Oshkosh on Oct. 23, is ranked 10th in the NCAA Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Jaeke, who has paced the Titans in kills 14 times this season, accounted for a match-best 15 points and hit .360 while Enyart surpassed her previous career high of nine kills by hitting .471 on 17 attempts. Jaeke went into the match with a WIAC-leading .329 hitting percentage.
Kate Nottoli had a career-high eight kills on .412 hitting for UW-Oshkosh, which also received five kills apiece from Rachel Aasby and Carissa Sundholm.
UW-Oshkosh's Rachel Gardner and Shelby Coron recorded a match-leading 19 digs and four blocks, respectively. Emma Kiekhofer dished out 23 assists and Rebecca Doughty added 14 while co-piloting the Titan offense.
The Titans finished the match with advantages of 45-32 in kills, .213 to .118 in hitting percentage, 40-31 in assists, 61-55 in digs, 7-6 in blocks and 3-2 in service aces. UW-Oshkosh, which averaged a season-best 15 kills per set, entered the night leading the conference with 1.98 blocks per set. UW-River Falls (13-10, 0-3 WIAC) was the league leader with a .221 hitting percentage and 18.44 digs per set.
UW-Oshkosh took control of the opening set with a 12-1 run for an 18-11 lead. Enyart and Nottoli combined for five kills during the pivotal run that culminated in a double-block by Jaeke and Nottoli. The Titans reached set-point at 24-16 following an Aasby kill, and a Falcon attack error ended the frame two points later.
The Titans never trailed in the second set after scoring six points in a row for a 6-1 advantage. Back-to-back UW-River Falls errors extended UW-Oshkosh's cushion to 18-10 before two straight Enyart kills provided a 24-16 lead.
Neither team led by more than two points during the third set that featured 20 ties and 11 lead changes. Jaeke kills pulled the Titans even at 21 and again at 22. Two more terminations by Jaeke set up match-point at 24-22, but the Falcons rallied to tie it at 24 following a kill from Mallory Griffin and a Titan attack error. UW-River Falls then sent a serve long, and UW-Oshkosh converted its third match-point on a Falcon attack error.
Karli Nielsen led UW-River Falls with eight kills.
Hailey Huseth produced a double-double for the Falcons with 18 assists and 10 digs while Dakota Poitra had a team-best 14 digs.
UW-River Falls' last win over UW-Oshkosh was a 3-1 decision Oct. 27, 2012.
UW-Oshkosh continues conference play at UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday (Oct. 9).