Jaeke, Gardner Named To All-WIAC Volleyball Team
The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team had a pair of 2019 All-WIAC selections as senior right-side hitter Samantha Jaeke received First Team and senior libero Rachel Gardner Honorable Mention recognition.
Jaeke garnered all-conference laurels for the fourth straight season while Gardner was tabbed to the Honorable Mention Team for the second straight year. Jaeke, the fifth four-time all-conference player in program history, was also selected to the All-WIAC First Team in 2016 and 2017 before being picked to the Honorable Mention Team last season. Jaeke joins former Titans Kathy Bischoff (1980-83), Katelyn Malcheski (2012-15), Leah Rosenbaum (2004-07) and Christina Southward (1998-2001) as four-time All-WIAC award winners.
Joining Jaeke on the 13-member All-WIAC First Team were Kendra Baierl and Arianna Barrett from UW-Eau Claire; Emma Lawrence from UW-La Crosse; Olivia Kudronowicz from UW-Platteville; Katie Koerper and Hannah Robb from UW-River Falls; Ellie Adams and April Gehl from UW-Stevens Point; Steph Cannon from UW-Stout; and Chloe Buescher, Ashton Doll and Morgan Jensen from UW-Whitewater.
Gehl was voted the league's Offensive Player of the Year while Cannon earned Defensive Player of the Year honors. Buescher was selected as the conference's Newcomer of the Year. UW-Whitewater's Stacy Boudreau was named the WIAC Coach of the Year after guiding the Warhawks to the league title.
Jaeke led the Titans this season with 390.5 points, 341 kills, 79 blocks and a .281 hitting percentage. She paced UW-Oshkosh in kills on 21 occasions this year and recorded double-digit terminations 18 times. Jaeke produced a career-high 20 kills during a four-set win over UW-Stout on Oct. 18, 19 terminations at University of Dubuque (Iowa) on Sept. 27 and 18 kills against both Loras College (Iowa) on Sept. 28 and Millikin University (Ill.) on Oct. 25.
Jaeke currently ranks fourth in the conference in points, kills and hitting percentage this year. She concluded her four seasons with 1,076 kills, a .233 hitting percentage, 685 assists, 560 digs and 320 blocks.
Gardner headlined the UW-Oshkosh defense this season, collecting a team-best 581 digs while adding 63 assists and 18 aces. Gardner, who ranks third in the conference at 5.23 digs per set, was the team leader in digs during all but two matches this year. She collected a career-high 38 digs at University of Dubuque on Sept. 27, and 32 digs against both University of St. Thomas (Minn.) on Sept. 20 and UW-River Falls on Nov. 5.
Gardner ended her four-year UW-Oshkosh career ranked fourth in program history with 2,098 digs.
UW-Oshkosh finished the season with a 21-10 record, including a 4-3 mark in conference play. The Titans have now won at least 20 matches 19 times in the past 21 seasons.
UW-Whitewater (21-8) won the WIAC regular season title with a 6-1 record. The Warhawks were followed in the standings by UW-Eau Claire (20-8) and UW-Stevens Point (24-8) in second at 5-2, UW-Oshkosh in fourth, UW-River Falls (22-12) in fifth at 3-4, UW-La Crosse (16-14) and UW-Platteville (16-14) in sixth at 2-5, and UW-Stout (19-11) in eighth at 1-6.