Titans To Host Falcons In WIAC Championship Opener
UW-Oshkosh begins its 32nd consecutive WIAC Women's Volleyball Championship appearance by hosting a first round contest against UW-River Falls on Tuesday (Nov. 5). The opening serve is set for 7 p.m. in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (21-9), seeded fourth for the six-team league tournament, sports a 9-1 home record this season, including a 3-0 victory over fifth-seeded UW-River Falls (21-12) on Oct. 5. The Titans and Falcons will be meeting at the WIAC Championship for the first time since UW-Oshkosh defeated UW-River Falls in five sets during the third-place match in 2014.
WIAC champion and nationally ranked UW-Whitewater (21-8) and second-seeded UW-Eau Claire (20-8) earned byes into the semifinal round of the league postseason. UW-Whitewater is ranked 16th in the NCAA Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Tuesday's other first round matchup features third-seeded UW-Stevens Point (23-8) hosting sixth-seeded UW-La Crosse (16-13).
The WIAC Championship continues with semifinal contests Thursday (Nov. 7) and concludes with the title match Saturday (Nov. 9).
UW-Oshkosh has reached the semifinals of the WIAC Championship each of the last five seasons. The Titans, who own a 37-35 record at the conference tournament, have the second most wins in history of the WIAC postseason.
UW-River Falls is returning to the league tournament after a four-year absence. The Falcons, who are 23-29 overall at the WIAC Championship, are seeking their second league postseason win since 2006.
UW-Oshkosh, which has won at least 20 matches for the 19th time in the last 21 years, leads the conference with 2.05 blocks per set as it attempts to slow down the UW-River Falls offense's league-leading .216 hitting percentage.
The Titans are also averaging 11.95 kills and 15.84 digs per set this year while listing third with a .203 hitting percentage. The Falcons, who lead the league with 18.18 digs per set, enter the WIAC Championship third in the conference at 12.85 kills per set.
Samantha Jaeke is pacing the Titans with 375.5 points, 328 kills and 75 blocks on the year. Jaeke, who surpassed 1,000 career kills earlier this season, ranks third in the conference in hitting percentage at .283 while listing fourth in both points (3.50) and kills (3.07) per set. Jaeke has led the Titans in kills on 20 occasions this year, including when she collected a career-high 20 against UW-Stout on Oct. 18.
Seven Titans have accumulated more than 100 points this season, including Carissa Sundholm with 246, Shelby Coron with 239.5 and Rachel Aasby with 178.5. Taylor Alen and Kate Nottoli have chipped in 159 and 144.5 points, respectively, for the Titans while Kendall Enyart had 140 through the first 26 matches of the year.
Emma Kiekhofer and Rebecca Doughty are combining to average 9.78 assists per set for UW-Oshkosh. Kiekhofer has dished out 589 assists on the year to go along with a team-leading 29 aces. Doughty follows with 460 assists and 27 aces.
UW-Oshkosh's Rachel Gardner, who this season became the fourth Titan to record 2,000 career digs, is fourth in the conference with 5.13 digs per set. Sundholm, Doughty, Kiekhofer, Coron and Becky Brezen have all added more than 100 digs on the year for the Titans. Brezen is third on the team with 24 aces.
The UW-River Falls efficient offense is led by a trio of players ranked among the top nine in the league in hitting percentage. Karli Neilsen is hitting a WIAC-leading .297 on the year while Katie Koerper is eighth at .251 and Sarah Langlois is ninth at .246.
Five Falcons have more than 200 kills this season as Koerper leads the team with 338, followed by Dakota Poitra's 300, Mallory Griffin's 297, Nielsen's 250 and Langlois' 213.
Other UW-River Falls team leaders include Hailey Huseth with 1,056 assists (9.78 per set), Hannah Robb with 631 digs (5.17 per set) and Langlois with 71 blocks.
Top-seeded UW-Whitewater heads into the WIAC Championship on a five-match losing streak, but the Warhawks have produced a 24-3 home record over the past two seasons.
UW-Eau Claire advanced to the national semifinals last season after winning both the WIAC regular season and postseason titles. The Blugolds, who toppled top-ranked University of Chicago (Ill.) last Saturday (Nov. 2), are riding a 10-match winning streak since Oct. 12.
UW-Stevens Point, leading the WIAC with 13.38 kills per set, is led by April Gehl, who ranks among the top five players in the country at 5.28 points and 4.78 kills per set.
UW-La Crosse qualified for the league tournament by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker over UW-Platteville. The Eagles feature Emma Lawrence, who ranks in the national top five with nearly 13 attacks per set.
UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater are the only programs to qualify for each of the 32 WIAC Championships since the event debuted in 1988. The Titans claimed WIAC postseason titles in 1990, 1991, 1994 and 2008.
Seven different teams have claimed the WIAC postseason championship since 2004.
UW-Whitewater won the most recent of its 16 league tournament championships in 2016. UW-Platteville has three WIAC Championship titles, while UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse and UW-Stevens Point have two apiece. UW-River Falls secured its lone conference tournament title in 1996.