Titans Stumble In WIAC Tournament Opener

The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team couldn't overcome a shaky offensive performance as it had two streaks come to a close in a 23-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-19, 15-13 semifinal round loss to UW-Eau Claire in the WIAC Tournament held Friday (Nov. 6) in Kolf Sports Center.

The loss ended UW-Oshkosh's 30-match home court winning streak and its 15-match winning streak in five-set contests.

After splitting the first two sets, UW-Oshkosh (34-2) took a 2-1 lead in the match by dominating set three. UW-Eau Claire (30-6) evened the count by sprinting out to a 20-11 advantage in set four to set up the deciding fifth-set.

Trailing 5-2 in set five, UW-Eau Claire went on a 6-1 scoring run to take an 8-6 cushion at the side change. The Titans responded by scoring four of the next five points to take a 10-9 lead.

The Blugolds then went on their own 4-1 scoring run to go up 13-11. UW-Oshkosh tied the score at 13-13 before UW-Eau Claire finished the match with a kill and a block for the two-point win.

Offensively the Titans had four players with double-digit kills, but all four committed at least five hitting errors as UW-Oshkosh hit only .119 in the match.

Aleisha Bagin (Fr. • West Bend), Katie Beining (Sr. • Brookfield) and Brittany Gruning (Fr. • East Troy) tallied 13 kills each and Andrea Smith (Jr. • Fond du Lac) 11. Katelyn Vara (Sr. • New Berlin) dished out 52 assists and Christina Cahoon (Jr. • Watertown) had a match-high 34 digs. Smith counted 16 digs and Beining 12.

Ray led the Titans with seven blocks, but struggled on offense with only six kills on 30 attempts. Beining and Smith added two service aces and Vara seven digs and three blocks.

Rachel Ver Voort and Danielle Lucia both had 12 kills to lead UW-Eau Claire. Kristen Moore added 11 kills, while Blair Murphy and Ver Voort both marked 16 digs and Lucia and Moore five blocks each. Amanda Lessner dished out 26 assists and Emily Neave 24.

The Titans held leads of 58-56 in kills, 56-52 in assists and 82-74 in digs. UW-Eau Claire topped UW-Oshkosh in hitting percentage .147-.119 and blocks 13-8. Both teams had five service aces.

UW-Oshkosh entered the match as the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and UW-Eau Claire 18th.

UW-Oshkosh plays UW-Platteville (22-13) in the third-place match at noon on Saturday (Nov. 7).