Pointers Remove Titans From WIAC Lead

Pointers Remove Titans From WIAC Lead

UW-Stevens Point knocked UW-Oshkosh from atop the WIAC women's volleyball standings with a 3-0 home win during a matchup of the league's top two offenses Wednesday (Oct. 9).

UW-Stevens Point (17-5, 3-1 WIAC) swept the Titans in set scores of 25-19, 25-17, 25-23. The Pointers hit .302 with just seven attack errors to overcome deficits of 43-42 in kills and 63-56 in digs.

The Titans, who hit .157 Wednesday, entered the night leading the conference with a .224 hitting percentage while the Pointers were the league leaders with 13.24 kills per set.

UW-Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh (14-6, 3-1 WIAC) are now tied for second in the league standings behind ninth-ranked UW-Whitewater (15-3, 4-0) with three conference matches remaining.

The Pointers' April Gehl led all players with 12 kills and 13 digs while Tara Emme added 11 terminations for UW-Stevens Point. Gehl, who accounted for 15 points, went into the day leading the country with 379 kills while ranking second nationally with 4.74 kills per set and sixth with 5.20 points per set.

Ellie Adams, the conference leader in assists per set, dished out 31 assists setting the UW-Stevens Point offense.

Samantha Jaeke paced the Titans in kills for the 15th time this season, collecting 11 to go along with a pair of blocks. Jaeke hit .233 after entering with a WIAC-leading .339 hitting percentage.

Kendall Enyart had nine kills and a team-high three blocks for the Titans, who also received seven kills on .400 hitting from Shelby Coron, six terminations from Carissa Sundholm and five kills apiece from Rachel Aasby and Kate Nottoli.

Rachel Gardner paced UW-Oshkosh with 13 digs while Rebecca Doughty notched her eighth career double-double with 15 assists and 11 digs. Emma Kiekhofer's 20 assists led the Titans.

UW-Stevens Point never trailed during the first set en route to building leads of 6-1, 15-7 and 21-14, committing just two attack errors and hitting .293 during the frame.

UW-Oshkosh claimed its first lead of the match on following a Nottoli kill on the initial point of the second set. However, the Pointers overtook the Titans at 7-6 after an attack error and maintained a lead for the remainder of the set. A kill by Gehl provided the Pointers set-point at 24-16, and a UW-Oshkosh service error ended the frame two points later.

The Pointers, who trailed on just two points the entire match, owned a 19-14 lead in the third set until the Titans rallied to knot the score at 23 after a Coron kill. But UW-Stevens Point secured the sweep by tallying the last two points on a wayward Titan set and a kill from Adams on match-point.

UW-Oshkosh returns home to host the five-team Marty Petersen Invitational on Friday and Saturday (Oct. 11-12) in Kolf Sports Center. The Titans open the event against Luther College (Iowa) on Friday.

Photo courtesy of Kylie Bridenhagen, UW-Stevens Point Sports Information