Titans Capture Win Over Falcons

Samantha Jaeke had a team-leading 11 kills, Taylor Allen added 10 kills and a match-best six blocks, and the UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team defeated UW-River Falls, 3-1, on Friday (Oct. 12) in River Falls.

UW-Oshkosh (11-12, 1-4 WIAC) downed the Falcons in set scores of 27-25, 24-26, 26-24, 25-22 to earn its eighth consecutive victory in the series. The Titans, who have won 14 of their past 17 meetings with the Falcons, last suffered a loss to UW-River Falls in 2012.

The Titans collected 14 blocks Friday and narrowly outhit UW-River Falls, .108 to .093.

UW-River Falls (12-14, 0-5 WIAC) owned advantages in kills (53-50), assists (51-47) and digs (109-107), but the Falcons committed 33 attack errors, 10 service errors and five ballhandling errors. Both teams recorded four service aces.

Jaeke hit .360 and registered three blocks while Allen paced the team with 13.5 points.

UW-Oshkosh's Tina Elstner contributed eight kills, a team-high 22 digs and four blocks. Elstner's 22 digs matched her career high.

Rebecca Doughty had a team-leading 24 assists to go along with 12 digs as she notched her third double-double of the year and sixth of her Titan career.

The Titans had three players with at least 20 digs, including Rachel Gardner with 21 and Becky Brezen with a season-best 20. Emma Kiekhofer had 15 assists, nine digs and a team-high two service aces while sharing UW-Oshkosh setting duties with Doughty.

UW-Oshkosh also received seven kills from Renee Rush, five kills and four blocks from Carly Lemke, and five kills from Kendall Enyart.

UW-River Falls raced out to an 8-3 lead in the opening set, but the Titans rallied to claim their first advantage at 14-13 following a kill by Allen. Trailing 20-17, UW-Oshkosh knotted the score at 20 after an Elstner kill, a service ace by Doughty and a combination block from Enyart and Lemke. The Falcons fended off a pair of set-points to tie the score at 24 and 25 before the Titans tallied the final two points on a kill by Rush and a UW-River Falls attack error.

The Falcons scored five unanswered points to take a 9-4 advantage in the second set and owned a 14-9 lead until the Titans rattled off five straight points on a pair of blocks and three UW-River Falls errors to forge a tie at 14. A kill by Allen later pulled the Titans even at 24 – the 10th tie of the set – but UW-River Falls capped the frame with a kill from Dakotah Poitra and a Titan attack error.

UW-Oshkosh held a 10-5 lead in the third set following a kill by Rush. Back-to-back terminations from Lemke and Jaeke provided the Titans a 14-9 advantage, but the Falcons pulled within 21-20 on a kill by Savannah Brauer. Jaeke notched a kill for a 22-20 cushion before UW-River Falls took its first lead of the set at 24-22 on the strength of three kills and a service ace. Following a Falcon service error, the Titans evened the score at 24 on a thunderous kill by Jaeke. Rush then crushed a kill in the middle of the Falcon court for a 25-24 edge, and a kill by Jaeke completed the Titans' set-ending, four-point run.

UW-River Falls built a 14-9 lead in the fourth set, but the Titans answered with five consecutive points to pull even at 14 and took the lead for good at 16-15. UW-Oshkosh's decisive 8-1 scoring run, which provided the Titans a 17-15 advantage, featured two kills from Allen, one termination from Jaeke, and blocks by Allen, Elstner and Jaeke. UW-Oshkosh extended its lead to 22-17 after a service ace from Kiekhofer and a Falcon error on consecutive points. UW-River Falls cut its deficit to 23-22, but following a Titan timeout, back-to-back kills by Enyart and Allen secured the UW-Oshkosh triumph.

UW-River Falls' Hannah Striggow led all players with 16 kills. Brauer and Nielsen added 15 and 11 kills, respectively, for the Falcons. Brauer also recorded a team-high five blocks.

Hailey Huseth amassed 26 assists and Mallory Griffin dished out 21 while co-directing the UW-River Falls offense. Hannah Robb had a match-high 44 digs and two service aces for the Falcons.

UW-Oshkosh plays Saint Mary's University (Minn.) and University of Northwestern-St. Paul (Minn.) on Saturday (Oct. 13) in St. Paul.