Titans Win Two Four-Set Matches In St. Louis

ST. LOUIS- The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team concluded the WashU Invitational with wins over DePauw University (Ind.) and Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday (Oct. 14).

The No. 2 nationally ranked Titans (26-0, 4-0 WIAC) completed a gentleman's sweep of DePauw (10-9, 3-0 NCAC) and beat Illinois Wesleyan (7-11, 3-3 CCIW) for the 25th and 26th wins of their season.

UW-Oshkosh dropped the first set against the Tigers before taking the following three by scores of 25-14, 25-11 and 25-22.

The Titans hit .347, while holding the Tigers to just .156 and held leads in kills (58-36), assists (50-33) and digs (61-42). DePauw paced in blocks with 12 to Oshkosh's seven.

Sami Perlberg (Fr. • Chippewa Falls) and Riley Kindt (Sr. • Brookfield) each recorded 16 kills. Perlberg hit .424 on 33 total attacks with two attack errors and Kindt hit .519 on 27 with two. Kalli Mau (Sr. • Kimberly) was the leading passer, recording 28 assists. She was followed by Izzy Coon (So. • Fond du Lac) with 18. Abby Fregien (Jr. • Waukesha) paced all players with 18 digs as libero.

DePauw jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and held it for the remainder of the set. Oshkosh tied it up at 19 apiece on a three-point spurt, but the Tigers scored three of their own for the lead and eventually the set win.

A 6-1 run for the Titans with two kills from Riley Dahlquist (So. • Sussex) produced a comfortable early lead in the second set which they later extended to 10 points on three- and four-point runs. DePauw outscored Oshkosh 5-3 to make the score 20-12, however the Tigers only scored twice more in the set. Perlberg delivered the set-winning kill.

Oshkosh scored the first seven points of the third set on three Perlberg and two Kindt kills with an ace from Dahlquist. Multiple spurts of three points kept the Tigers at bay and helped Oshkosh cruise to a 25-11 win.

After the Titans scored three to start the fourth set, DePauw took a 5-4 lead on a 5-1 run. Five consecutive points gave the Titans the last lead of the match. DePauw scored five-straight, fighting back to a 1-point deficit and tied the set twice until Robyn Kirsch (Jr. • Wausau) ended the match with a kill from Mau.

In their second match of the day and their final match of the WashU Invitational, the Oshkosh won the first set 25-13 against the Illinois Wesleyan Titans, dropped the second 25-21 and picked up 25-23 and 25-16 wins in the third and fourth.

Oshkosh paced Illinois Wesleyan 59 to 41 in kills, 56 to 39 in assists and 79 to 65 in digs.

Perlberg added 12 kills on 37 attacks with three errors for a .243 kill percentage. Kindt and Dahlquist each hit 10 kills in the match. Kindt added 2.5 blocks. Hannah Moe (So. • Oconto) registered an impressive .692 kill percentage with nine on 13 attacks.

After an early lead, Oshkosh posted a 9-1 run to extend their already generous lead to 21-8. Illinois Wesleyan outscored Oshkosh by a point but could not overcome the large lead.

In the second set, Illinois Wesleyan took an early lead until Oshkosh scored four-straight to make the score 7-4. The Wisconsin-based Titans fell behind again during a 10-2 spurt which gave the Illinois-based Titans a 17-12 lead.

Oshkosh clawed its way back to a 2-point deficit, but could not finish the comeback, dropping the 25-21 decision.

Early leads helped Oshkosh maintain control in the fourth and fifth sets. The team never scored more than three in-a-row in the fourth and finished the fifth on an impressive 6-point spurt started by a Kirsch kill. Kindt served the final five points, ending the match with an ace.

Kindt and Dahlquist were each named to the All-Tournament Team and were joined by Emily Williams from Simpson College (Iowa), Olivia Karwin from DePauw, Taylor French from Illinois Wesleyan and both Sam Buckley and Jasmine Sells from WashU.

The Titans will return to action on Friday (Oct. 20) for a road match against UW-River Falls. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.