Titans Rally To Clip Pioneers In WIAC Tournament Match

The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team won for the 16th time in its last 17 five-set contests with a thrilling 18-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 16-14 victory over UW-Platteville in the third-place match of the WIAC Tournament held Saturday (Nov. 7) in Kolf Sports Center.

After hitting negative in set one, UW-Oshkosh came back to record 13 kills in set one, 19 in set four and 11 in set five to pull out the victory.

The Titans recorded 10 of their 25 hitting errors in set one. UW-Oshkosh never trailed in set five, with its largest lead being 5-2. UW-Oshkosh held a two-point lead at 9-7, and carried it all the way to 14-12 before UW-Platteville tied the score at 14-14.

After a Jacque Ray (Sr. • Richland Center) kill put the Titans up 15-14, Morgan Liebetrau (Fr. • West Bend) set over on two for the game winning kill after a dig by Christina Cahoon (Jr. • Watertown).

Ray led the Titans with 19 kills and added four blocks and Andrea Smith (Jr. • Fond du Lac) had 16 kills and 11 digs. Cahoon finished with 27 digs, Katie Beining (Sr. • Brookfield) 13 and Brittney Cote (So. • Orland Park, Ill.) 10. Katelyn Vara (Sr. • New Berlin) dished out 26 assists and Liebetrau added 21. Brittany Gruning (Fr. • East Troy) led the Titans with seven blocks and Aleisha Bagin (Fr. • West Bend) contributed seven kills and four blocks.

Melissa Hillebrand led UW-Platteville with 22 kills and Briana Kaiser and Samantha Rampart each had 12. Abby Carey tallied 26 digs, Brooke Nichols 16 and Ali Sikic and Leslie White 13 each. Lisa Bell had seven blocks and Sikic ran the offense with 54 assists.

UW-Oshkosh, the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division III, held advantages of 63-57 in kills, .215-.200 in hitting percentage, 6-4 in service aces, 55-54 in assists and 14-10.5 in blocks. UW-Platteville had an 83-72 cushion in digs.