Titans Begin WIAC Championship At UW-La Crosse
UW-Oshkosh commences the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women's Volleyball Championship (Presented by Culver's) with a first round contest at defending league tournament champion UW-La Crosse on Tuesday (Oct. 30). The opening serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. in UW-La Crosse's Mitchell Hall.
UW-Oshkosh (16-14), seeded sixth in the six-team WIAC Championship, is seeking its first win at third-seeded UW-La Crosse since 2014. The Eagles have won each of the previous six meetings in the series, including a 3-0 decision on Sept. 19 in La Crosse.
UW-La Crosse (16-12) has eliminated UW-Oshkosh from the WIAC Championship during the semifinal round the past two seasons.
Tuesday's other first round matchup features fourth-seeded UW-Stout (16-12) hosting fifth-seeded UW-Stevens Point (17-15).
Top-seeded UW-Eau Claire (27-3) will host the winner between UW-Stevens Point and UW-Stout during the semifinal round Thursday (Nov. 1) while second-seeded UW-Whitewater (23-6) hosts the victor between UW-La Crosse and UW-Oshkosh. UW-Eau Claire is ranked 13th in the NCAA Division III and UW-Whitewater lists 18th in the country by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
The final match of the WIAC Championship will be contested Saturday (Nov. 3) at the highest remaining seed. The winner of the WIAC Championship earns the league's automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA Division III Championship that begins Nov. 8.
UW-Oshkosh owns a 36-34 record as a participant in each of the past 31 league postseason tournaments. The Titans, attempting to become the first sixth-seeded team to win a WIAC postseason match since 1997, secured league tournament titles in 1990, 1991, 1994 and 2008. The sixth seed at the WIAC Championship has produced a 5-36 record since 1988.
UW-La Crosse has compiled a 28-29 record in 26 appearances at the WIAC Championship. The Eagles, who won league postseason titles in 2003 and 2017, sport an 8-3 record against UW-Oshkosh at the WIAC Championship. UW-La Crosse has won four straight league tournament matches over the Titans since a 3-2 loss during the 2008 semifinals.
UW-Oshkosh has been led offensively by senior outside hitter Tina Elstner's 2.63 kills per set. Seven Titans have accumulated more than 100 kills on the season, including senior outside hitter Renee Rush with a team-leading 208, freshman middle blocker Taylor Allen with 187 and senior middle blocker Carly Lemke with 183. Allen and Lemke pace the UW-Oshkosh net defense with 96 and 70 blocks, respectively, while Lemke has recorded a team-leading .239 hitting percentage and 23 service aces.
Titans junior right-side hitter Samantha Jaeke has averaged 2.09 kills per set while sophomore middle blocker Shelby Coron contributes 1.40 kills per set to go along with 55 blocks. Freshman middle blocker Kendall Enyart has totaled 104 kills on the year.
Freshman Emma Kiekhofer and sophomore Rebecca Doughty have shared setting duties for the Titans, averaging 4.82 and 4.46 assists per set, respectively.
UW-Oshkosh junior libero Rachel Gardner has a team-high 512 digs while senior defensive specialist Katie Hodges has 195 digs and freshman defensive specialist Becky Brezen 163 digs and 22 service aces.
Three UW-La Crosse players have amassed more than 200 kills on the year. Freshman outside hitter Emma Lawrence paces the Eagles with 308 kills and 2.93 kills per set. Senior outside hitter Marisa Johnson has added 298 kills and junior middle blocker Kathryn Maas 204.
UW-La Crosse leads the WIAC with 19.22 digs and 1.86 service aces per set. Sophomore libero Julia Van Fleet's 553 digs and 5.32 digs per set lead the squad, and Johnson has a team-high 53 service aces.
Junior setter Abbey Fox is averaging 9.09 assist per set while directing the UW-La Crosse offense.
UW-Eau Claire, which won its lone WIAC postseason title in 2012, enters the league tournament leading the conference in hitting percentage (.246), and kills (13.45) and assists (12.62) per set. Blugolds senior setter Madison Surprise is averaging a WIAC-leading 10.98 assists per set while senior middle hitter Madelyn Pashibin's .337 hitting percentage leads the league. Sophomore middle hitter Krista Meyer also paces the conference with 1.17 blocks per set.
UW-Whitewater, which has won 16 of the 30 previous WIAC tournament championships, sports a 67-17 league postseason record. This season the Warhawks lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.129) and blocks per set (2.12). Warhawks senior libero Brittany Robinson paces the WIAC with 5.83 digs per set.
UW-Stout has produced a 16-32 record at the league tournament. The Blue Devils are seeking their second WIAC Championship title and first since 2004.
UW-Stevens Point junior outside hitter April Gehl is leading the conference with 5.24 points and 4.73 kills per set. The Pointers, who sport an 18-29 record in 27 trips to the WIAC Championship, won back-to-back league postseason titles in 2013 and 2014.
One of the top three seeds has won each of the past 12 WIAC tournaments since fifth-seeded UW-Platteville claimed the event in 2005. Sixth-seeded teams, which have won more than one match just once (1989), have never claimed a WIAC Championship title.