Kindt Named AVCA All-America First Team, Three Earn Honorable Mention
LEXINGTON, Ky.- Riley Kindt headlined the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America list for the UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team on Tuesday (Nov. 28), joined by three Titans with honorable mention status.
The Titans (37-1), ranked second in the nation, have had a historic year. They started the season on a 34-match winning streak, including a 33-0 regular season mark and an undefeated WIAC slate. Notable wins across the regular season included a sweep of UW-Whitewater on Sept. 20 and a five-set win over Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 13. The win over the Warhawks was the first since 2015 and the first sweep over the conference foe since 1994. Oshkosh entered the Oct. 13 match 0-15 all-time against the Bears before pulling off a reverse sweep.
Kindt (Sr. • Brookfield), who earned her third consecutive All-WIAC and second-straight All-Region 8 First Team honors was also named the Region 8 Player of the Year. She ranked fourth in the WIAC with a .355 hitting percentage, sixth with 3.96 points per set, eighth with 3.25 kills per set and 10th with 0.830 blocks per set in the regular season. In the regional championship match against the University of La Verne (Calif.), she hit a career-high 23 kills, hitting .367 on 49 total attacks, also recording five digs and five blocks. She was named All-Regional Tournament Most Outstanding Player for her performance in the first three rounds of the tournament. She also earned places on the UW-Whitewater, UW-Stevens Point, WashU and UW-Stevens Point Papa Johns Invitational All-Tournament Teams.
Riley Dahlquist (So. • Sussex), Abby Fregien (Jr. • Waukesha) and Sami Perlberg (Fr. • Chippewa Falls) all earned All-America Honorable Mention.
Dahlquist also earned All-WIAC Honorable Mention and All-Region First Team this season. She acquired multiple top-10 marks in the WIAC, include hitting percentage (.299, fifth), service aces (0.390, seventh) and blocks per set (0.930, seventh). She hit 19 kills twice in the regular season, a career-high. Her first 19 kill performance came on Sept. 30 against the University of Chicago and her second came Oct. 13 against WashU. The middle blocker was named a member of the Marty Peterson Invitational and WashU Invitational All-Tournament Teams.
Fregien was named to her first All-WIAC First Team and second All-Defensive Team before earning her second All-Region First Team. She led the league with 517 digs and ranked fourth with 4.79 digs per set in the regular season. She started all 33 matches for the Titans, recording double-digit digs in 27 of them and 20-plus in eight. Her season-high mark of 25 came on Oct. 11 against UW-Eau Claire. She was named WIAC Defensive Player of the Week three times and was named to the Trinity University (Texas) Invitational and NCAA Regional All-Tournament teams. Fregien has a All-America Third Team honor from the 2022 season.
In her first collegiate season, Perlberg also received All-WIAC Honorable Mention, All-Region First Team and Region 8 Freshman of the Year laurels. She ranked seventh in the league with 3.28 kills per set and eighth with 3.71 points per set. Her 357 kills and 404 points sat her at sixth and seventh, respectively. She recorded a season-high 18 kills twice this season, against Texas Lutheran University on Sept. 1 and Hope College (Mich.) on Sept. 30. She earned tournament MVP after the Trinity Invitational concluded and was on the Marty Peterson Invitational, UW-Stevens Point and NCAA Regional All-Tournament Teams. Perlberg was the sixth Titan to earn Region Freshman of the Year and the first since Samantha Jaeke in 2016.
The Titans, seeded first for the final three rounds, return to action on Wednesday at 9 p.m. central time, facing off against No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in their NCAA Quarterfinal match in Claremont, Calif. This is their first trip to the Elite Eight since 2009.