The UW Oshkosh women’s volleyball team went 3-1 last weekend at the Pizza Hut Classic and 6-1 overall this week.

The team was able to pick up victories over Edgewood and Wheaton Colleges on Sept. 6, Concordia University, Saint Mary’s University and Wisconsin Lutheran College in the Classic and St. Norbert College and Lawrence University on Wednesday.

In its first match on Wednesday, UWO defeated St. Norbert College 3-1.

The Titans won the first two sets by set scores of 25-20 and 25-11. The Green Knights took the third set with a set score of 25-19, but the Titans used 14 kills and only eight errors to win the set-clinching match, 25-22.

UWO continued its dominance in its second game of the night as it completed a 3-0 sweep against Lawrence University. The Titans won the first two sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-23 and finished the sweep with a set score of 25-17 over the Vikings.

The Vikings started out the third set with a 5-0 run, but UWO countered by going on a 9-2 run to finish off the match.

The final two games of the Pizza Hut Classic occured on Sunday, when the Titans faced off against Saint Mary’s University and Wisconsin Lutheran College. UWO recorded victories against both squads, 3-2 and 3-0, respectively.

In the team’s match against Saint Mary’s, UWO relied on coming back from a 1-2 deficit and forced five sets to eventually earn a victory. The team used 43 kills against 27 errors to give its opponent its third loss of the season.

Head coach Jon Ellmann said throughout the tournament, the overall goals for the team remained the same as when it began the tournament.

“I think [the] expectation is to make improvements and play Oshkosh volleyball from point one to the last point,” Ellmann said. “Improvements just from match one to match two, playing really, really clean and learning how to respond to a team that’s doing a lot of different things [is important].”

In the final match of the tournament, UWO swept Wisconsin Lutheran College in three straight sets to claim its sixth win of the season. The team only allowed 13 points in the first two sets, and the Titans only had 14 errors across the three-game span.

Sophomore Samantha Jaeke said for all matches in the tournament, the team was able to keep its energy levels where they needed to be.

“Positives [of the tournament] were definitely energy,” Jaeke said. “We had so much fun and energy when we were playing that match.”

The Titans started things off on Friday against Concordia University of Wisconsin, with UWO sweeping the Falcons with scores of 25-13, 25-12 and 25-17. The team had a total of 35 kills, led by Jaeke who had 11 kills during the match and led the team in scoring with 12.5 points.

Junior Tina Elstner contributed to the Titans with five kills and six digs. Sophomore Rachel Gardner had a team-high 12 digs.

Elstner said it’s important for the Titans to stay true to their game.

“Some goals would probably be to just work together well,” Elstner said. “Do our best no matter who we’re playing, even if we’re playing the top team. Just stay positive and push through and play our game, play our best volleyball.”

UWO fell to the eighth-ranked Wash-U Bears in the next match 3-2 with set scores of 25-13, 19-25, 25-22, 18-25 and 13-15. The Titans came out with a strong start during the first set, scoring three unanswered points right away.

Wash-U came back to tally points, but not enough to stop the Titans. A kill from Elstner put UWO up 17-7, followed by a block from Jaeke and a kill from junior Brianna Witter that advanced the score to 23-11.

The second set started strong for UWO, with another lead of 3-0. The Bears hung with the Titans this time, taking the lead 12-13 after four UWO errors.

These errors kept the Titans down with the score racking up to 14-17. Oshkosh was able to raise its score to 19, but it wasn’t enough to win them the set.

In the third set, UWO used 15 kills and only five errors to take a 25-22 victory and a two games to one lead in the match.

Gardner said regardless of the set outcome, the team was able to remain consistent in certain areas.

“I would say that some positives would be our energy throughout the whole match,” Gardner said. “We stayed positive throughout the first couple sets. We did really well with connecting with our hitters which is awesome. Our first ball contact was really good.”

The fourth set went to the Bears, as they tied the set at two apiece with a 25-18 victory. The final set was closely contested, but eventually went the Bears’ way, 13-15. UWO had 10 kills and 14 errors in the final two sets.

For their home debut against Edgewood, the Titans were able to secure a victory within four sets with scores of 25-16, 21-25, 25-21 and 25-14. Leading UWO in kills for the match was Elstner with 12. Elstner received help from Gardner with a season-high of 24 digs.

Pitching in on the effort were sophomore Alyssa Wolslegel with a total of 11 kills and Jaeke with 15 assists.

Next up on the schedule that day was Wheaton College. Once again in a four-set match, the Titans found victory. With help from a total of 54 kills and 56 digs, UWO was able to take the match at 23-25, 25-17, 25-23 and 25-19.

Elstner led the charge again in kills with 15. This time Jaeke pitched in 12 kills of her own and once again leading the team in digs was Gardner with 18.

UWO’s next match will be on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at Kolf Sports Center as the Titans will host conference opponent UW-La Crosse for their first conference match of the season. Following that, UWO will travel to Bloomington, Illinois to compete in the Barker Chevrolet Classic II. The team will face four different schools in a two-day tournament.