Titans Host Blue Devils In WIAC Championship Opener
UW-Oshkosh begins its quest for a fifth WIAC women's volleyball tournament title when it hosts UW-Stout on Tuesday (Nov. 1). First serve is set for 7 p.m. in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (27-6), ranked 23rd in the NCAA Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, is seeded third for the six-team WIAC Championship (presented by Culver's) after sharing the league's regular season title with top-seeded and 14th-ranked UW-Whitewater (25-6) and second-seeded and 10th-ranked UW-La Crosse (21-4). UW-Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse also shared the WIAC title last season.
Fourth-seeded UW-Eau Claire (23-9) will host fifth-seeded and 17th-ranked UW-Stevens Point (26-6) in Tuesday's other first-round matchup.
UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse both open WIAC tournament play in the semifinals on Thursday (Nov. 3). UW-Whitewater will host the winner of UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stevens Point while the victor of UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout (15-13) will travel to UW-La Crosse.
The semifinal winners will meet on Saturday (Nov. 5) for the league's automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA Division III Championship.
UW-Oshkosh defeated UW-Stout, 3-1, to close out the regular season on Saturday (Oct. 29). The Titans secured their share of the conference title behind a career-high 18 kills from Carly Lemke. Samantha Jaeke added 15 kills and five blocks for the Titans, who also received 10 kills and 11 blocks from Nerissa Vogt, and 50 assists and 13 digs from Lexi Thiel.
The Titans have won 28 of their 36 meetings with the Blue Devils since 1991, including two of the three prior matchups in the WIAC Championship. UW-Oshkosh ousted UW-Stout from the league tournament in both 2000 and 2001, but the Blue Devils eliminated the Titans in their most recent postseason meeting at the 2004 championship.
UW-Oshkosh, which has not lost in 11 home matches, is led offensively by the 371 kills from Tina Elstner, 304 from Jaeke, 185 from Shannon Herman and 184 from Lemke. Thiel has amassed 1,138 assists while directing the Titan offense.
Lemke also ranks fourth in the WIAC with a .276 hitting percentage while Elstner has a team-best 37 service aces.
Defensively, UW-Oshkosh leads the nation with 321.5 blocks. Spearheading the team's net defense are Jaeke with 101 blocks, Vogt with 93, Lemke with 84, Brooke Brinkman and Thiel with 69 apiece and 52 from Thiel.
Rachel Gardner paces the UW-Oshkosh back row with 334 digs, followed by 332 from Elstner, 293 from Laura Trochinski, 291 from Thiel and 193 from Katie Hodges.
UW-Stout features three players with at least 225 kills. Ashley Pratt leads the Blue Devils with 346 kills while Kennedy Strain and Olivia Jung have added 250 and 225, respectively.
UW-Stout's team leaders also including Jessica DuVal with 846 assists, Carli Langeland with 23 service aces, Anna Panning with 455 digs and Strain with 84 blocks.
UW-Oshkosh holds statistical advantages over UW-Stout in per-set kills (12.10-11.65), blocks (2.70-1.62) and service aces (1.43-1.34) as well as hitting percentage (.213 to .165). The Blue Devils have a slight advantage in digs per set (17.36-16.38).
UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater are the only programs to qualify for each of the 29 WIAC Championships. UW-Oshkosh owns a 34-32 record in WIAC tournament play while UW-Whitewater, which has a 63-16 league-tournament mark, won its conference-leading 15th championship final a year ago. The Titans and Warhawks have combined to secure 19 of the 28 WIAC Championship titles.
At last year's WIAC Championship, top-seeded UW-Oshkosh lost to fifth-seeded UW-Stevens Point in the semifinal round and suffered a season-ending setback to second-seeded UW-La Crosse in the third-place match. UW-Whitewater went on to defeat UW-Stevens Point in the league final.
This season's WIAC Championship will not feature a third-place contest for the first time since 1986.
UW-Platteville has won three WIAC Championship titles while UW-Stevens Point has claimed two and UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-River Falls and UW-Stout one each.