Titans Split Matches In Illinois

UW-Oshkosh recorded a victory over nationally ranked Carthage College as it went 2-2 at the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Volleyball Tournament on Friday and Saturday (Oct. 12-13) in Naperville, Ill.

The Titans (15-13) defeated #24 Carthage before dropping a match to host North Central College on Friday. After falling to Wheaton College (Ill.) in five sets on Saturday, UW-Oshkosh bounced back with a sweep over Simpson College (Iowa).

Carthage took the first set by a score of 25-17, but the Titans rallied to capture the next three, 25-23, 25-23, 27-25. UW-Oshkosh benefited from 14 kills by Katelyn Malcheski (Fr. • Little Suamico) and five service aces from Mandy Trautmann (Fr. • Seymour). Carthage received a match-high 20 kills from Bria Hailey.

In the Friday nightcap, North Central held the Titans to a .081 hitting percentage in the 25-23, 27-25, 25-21 decision. UW-Oshkosh was led by Jordyn Bratel's (Jr. • Milwaukee) 11 kills and Morgan Liebetrau's (Sr. • West Bend) 19 assists. Laura Kluk racked up 39 assists, while Kedryn Orrison totaled seven blocks for North Central.

The Titans battled against Wheaton before coming up short, 25-12, 26-24, 25-27, 19-25, 15-11. UW-Oshkosh hit an impressive .424 during the fourth set without committing an error. Morgan Cizauskas (Fr. • Mukwonago) assisted on 23 points, to go with 27 digs from Trautmann. Wheaton used 46 assists by Lauren Wilhite and 34 digs from Kelli Manning.

In the finale, UW-Oshkosh got past Simpson with scores of 26-24, 25-21 and 25-20. Bratel paced the squad with 11 kills, while Liebetrau accounted for 39 assists. MacKenzie McGraw topped Simpson with 10 kills.

Liebetrau finished with 95 assists in the tournament. The Titans received 39 kills from Malcheski, 35 from Bratel and 32 from Larissa Krumplitsch (Sr. • Appleton). Trautman also posted 10 service aces and Presley Neuman (So. • Appleton) had 13 blocks.

UW-Oshkosh returns home to play UW-La Crosse on Wednesday (Oct. 17).