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Women's Volleyball

Nerissa Vogt hit .386 with a career-best 18 kills to help the Titans improve to 7-1 in five-set matches this season.
Nerissa Vogt hit .386 with a career-best 18 kills to help the Titans improve to 7-1 in five-set matches this season.

Titans Rally To Take Third Place At WIAC Championship

Box Score

UW-Oshkosh overcame a two-set deficit and defeated UW-River Falls, 3-2, in the third-place match of the WIAC Women's Volleyball Championship held Saturday (Nov. 8) in Stevens Point.

The Titans won the contest in set scores of 18-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-13.

The third-place finish marked UW-Oshkosh's best showing at the WIAC Championship since 2009. The Titans (31-7) entered the six-team postseason tournament as the third seed, while UW-River Falls (13-20) was seeded fourth.

UW-Oshkosh, which also defeated UW-River Falls in five sets on Oct. 10, held a 9-6 advantage in blocks, but the Falcons had more kills (71-60), service aces (7-5) and digs (96-78) while outhitting the Titans, .259 to .214.

Nerissa Vogt led UW-Oshkosh with 18 kills on .386 hitting. Katelyn Malcheski had 13 kills and a match-high five blocks, while Brooke Brinkman and Allison Rueger added 10 kills apiece.

UW-Oshkosh's Mandy Trautmann led all players with 31 digs. Danielle Stoppenbach chipped in with 17 digs to bring her career total to 998. Lexi Thiel directed the Titan offense with 48 assists.

UW-River Falls raced out to a 7-2 lead and led every point of the first set. UW-Oshkosh pulled within 15-14, but the Falcons tallied the next eight points to put the set away. UW-River Falls registered 16 kills and outhit UW-Oshkosh, .324 to .088, in the set.

The Titans trailed 13-8 in the second set before scoring three straight points. Down 22-18, UW-Oshkosh scored the next five points on a Rueger kill, a Stoppenbach service ace and three Falcon errors. However, UW-River Falls responded by scoring the last three points on a kill and two Titan errors.

Tied at 12 in the third set, UW-Oshkosh went on a five-point run that featured one kill by Vogt and four Falcon errors. UW-River Falls cut its deficit to 20-17, but a kill by Laura Trochinski and two more errors gave UW-Oshkosh a 23-18 advantage it wouldn't relinquish.

Neither team led by more than four points in the fourth set. UW-Oshkosh opened a 17-13 lead after a Vogt kill, but UW-River Falls rallied to tie the score at 18. The set was tied again at 20, 21, 22 and 23. The Titans broke the final tie on another kill by Vogt and a UW-River Falls attack error on set point.

UW-Oshkosh never trailed in the fifth set and led, 8-5, at the side change. Trailing 10-7, UW-River Falls tallied four of the next five points to forge a tie. The Titans took a 12-11 lead on a Falcon service error, and the teams exchanged the next three points on kills to tie the score at 13. A kill by Malcheski gave the Titans match point, which was converted on a solo block by Brinkman to complete the comeback.

Rebecca Gasper led UW-River Falls with a match-high 24 kills on .476 hitting. Raven Klein had a match-best 63 assists and Lexi Pingel a team-high 30 digs.

Top-seeded and seventh-ranked UW-Stevens Point (29-4) defeated second-seeded and 24th-ranked UW-Whitewater (26-8) in three sets to win the WIAC Championship and earn the league's automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA Division III Championship.

The Titans will find out during a selection show televised on NCAA.com at 10 a.m. on Monday (Nov. 10) whether they earned one of the 20 at-large berths to the NCAA Division III Championship. UW-Oshkosh last appeared in the NCAA's postseason tournament in 2010.

Photo courtesy of Jack McLaughlin