Titans’ Historic Season Ends In NCAA Quarterfinal
CLAREMONT, Calif.- The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team played in the NCAA Division III quarterfinal round for the sixth time since 1991 on Wednesday night (Nov. 29), falling to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (Calif.) in straight sets.
Sami Perlberg (Fr. • Chippewa Falls) led the Titans with 11 kills, hitting .235 on 34 attacks. She also recorded eight digs and two solo blocks. Riley Kindt (Sr. • Brookfield) registered eight kills on 24 total attacks. Izzy Coon (Fr. • Fond du Lac) and Kalli Mau (Sr. • Kimberly) were Oshkosh's leading setters with 13 and 10 assists, respectively. Abby Fregien (Jr. • Waukesha) and Mau joined Perlberg with eight digs each and Emmy Wizceb (Fr. • Johnsburg, Ill.) also blocked three of the Athenas' attacks.
The Athenas jumped out of the gates to an early seven-point lead before Oshkosh got on the board. They extended their lead to as much as 10 points before a 9-3 spurt by the Titans forced CMS to call a timeout at 19-15.
Oshkosh led 10-5 early in the second set, however two runs of five points by CMS erased that lead. The Athenas scored six of the last seven points to take the second set.
UW-Oshkosh was down but not out in the third set and came out swinging by scoring four consecutive points. CMS responded with five points of its own and the teams traded points until a 9-1 spurt for CMS gave it a 16-8 lead. A later 4-0 run for the Titans decreased the deficit to four points, but they didn't score more than a point consecutively for the rest of the set.
The Titans finished the season with a 37-2 record, including a perfect 7-0 mark in league play and a 33-0 regular season record. The overall and conference wins were both the most since the 2009 season in addition to the first solo regular season title in 14 years.