Titans Go Unbeaten In Pizza Hut Classic
The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team finished the UW-Oshkosh Pizza Hut Classic with a 4-0 record, bringing the Titans winning streak to seven games.
During the tournament, the Titans managed to beat Concordia University Wisconsin and North Central College (Ill.) on Friday (Sept. 13) before beating Martin Luther College (Minn.) and Ripon College on Saturday (Sept. 14).
The seven-game winning streak is the longest for UW-Oshkosh since 2009.
Offensive balance was key for the Titans in the tournament with five players having 20 or more kills. Katelyn Malcheski paced the team with 41 kills, followed closely by Jessica Fischer with 40. Jordyn Bratel marked 34 kills while Hayley Rickmeier added 25 and Nerissa Vogt contributed 24.
Alison Tomczyk led the Titans with 98 assists.
On the defensive side, Mandy Trautmann came up big for UW-Oshkosh. Trautmann scooped up 98 digs during the tournament.
The Titans hit .247 during the four games, including Fischer's .333 from the outside.
UW-Oshkosh tipped off the tournament against Concordia by winning in five sets by scores of 18-25, 25-22, 25-20, 16-25 and 15-13.
Trailing 14-13, Concordia rattled off 11 of the last 14 points to claim the first set.
Oshkosh answered in the second set, overcoming a 15-5 defecit to take the set 25-22 behind a pair of five point rallies.
In the third set, the Titans jumped out to an early lead and held on to win the set despite holding off a late charge that brought the Falcons within two.
Concordia controlled the fourth set. After taking a 10-8 lead, Concordia never let go and won the set easily.
UW-Oshkosh bounced back in the fifth set, getting out to a 6-0 lead. Concordia brought it back to a tie at 11-11 but the Titans edged out the Falcons to take the fifth set and the match.
Trautmann had 31 digs to lead all players.
Tomczyk led the Titans with 26 assists, and Kyle Hodyl added 19. Concordia's Karina Klotz had a game-high 28 assists.
Bratel finished the match with 11 kills, top for the Titans.
UW-Oshkosh cruised past North Central College in the second match Friday night, winning in straight sets by scores of 25-16, 25-14 and 25-10.
In the first set, the Titans got ahead 18-9 and held on for a 9 point victory.
UW-Oshkosh went up 15-5 in set number two and used a seven point rally to pull away and take the set.
The Titans completed the sweep in the third allowing North Central to score consecutive points only once.
Malcheski led the Titans with 9 kills while Bratel and Fischer each added 8. No player on North Central had more than 4 kills.
Tomczyk had 24 assists in the match and Trautmann added 13 digs.
The Titans hit .493 in the match, including .867 in the third set.
In the first contest on Saturday, UW-Oshkosh came from behind to beat Martin Luther College in five sets with scores of 17-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-20 and 15-11.
Martin Luther never trailed in the first set, jumping out to an 11-5 lead.
In the second set, Martin luther scored 8 of the match's final 13 points to jump out to a 2-0 set lead.
UW-Oshkosh got out to an early lead in the third set and held on to stay alive in the match.
An 8 point rally with Danielle Stoppenbach serving gave the Titans a 23-14 lead in the fourth set.
UW-Oshkosh never trailed in the final set, getting out to a 12-6 lead and holding off Martin Luther for the win.
Fischer tied a game-high 15 kills while Tomczyk had 24 assists. Miranda Maasz of Martin Luther had 50 of the Knights 54 assists.
Trautmann led the Titans with 31 digs while Martin Luther had five players with 11 or more scoops.
UW-Oshkosh outhit the Knights .219 to .199 for the match.
The Titans battled back in their final match of the tournament after dropping the first set to Ripon College. UW-Oshkosh responded by winning the next three sets. The match scores were 22-25, 25-16, 25-8 and 25-23.
Ripon took an early lead in the first set but had to hold off a late Titan run to take the set.
In the second, UW-Oshkosh scored 7 of the final 8 points to tie the match up at 1-1.
The Titans dominated the third set, going up 19-4 before squeaking out a win in the fourth and final set thanks to a late 5-point rally.
Malcheski had a game-high 16 kills and Trautmann once again had a solid defensive showing with 23 digs.
Tomczyk led the Titans with 24 assists while Morgan Cizauskas added 16 assists of her own. Ripon's Abbi Williamson led all players with 36 assists.
The Titans hit .369 for the match.
UW-Oshkosh begins conference play Sept. 20 with a home matchup against UW-Platteville.
By Ryan Smith, UW-Oshkosh Sports Information
Photo courtesy of Steve Frommell