The UW Oshkosh women’s volleyball team is headed to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009 with a win over the University of La Verne (California) on Saturday night (Nov. 18) at the Kolf Sports Center.
The No. 2 nationally ranked Titans (37-1) defeated the 20th-ranked Leopards 3-1, dropping the first set before winning the next three.
Riley Kindt capped off the weekend with a career-high 23 kills, hitting .367 on 49 total attacks. She also dug five attacks and recorded five blocks for 25.5 points, another career-best. Sami Perlberg hit 16 kills. Kalli Mau and Izzy Coon both registered 21 assists and Maddy Pearson blocked five attacks (one solo).
UWO hit 56 kills (.176) against the Leopards’ 46 (.133) while La Verne paced Oshkosh in service aces (5-3) and total blocks (10-9).
Perlberg and Kindt opened the match with three kills, all from Mau. A 5-point run gave the Leopards the lead a few points later and even though Oshkosh tied the set up two more times, two runs of three points and a 4-point spurt earned La Verne a first set win.
The Titans separated themselves from the Leopards with a 4-0 run to make the score 8-4. They retained the lead for much of the set and fought off a 4-0 run by the Leopards that tied the set up at 19 points apiece. Pearson kicked off a 6-1 scoring run with a kill, followed by a kill by Kindt and three from Perlberg.
The third set also started off close and once again, Oshkosh pulled ahead with a run, scoring five points for a 12-7 lead. The Titans further extended their lead, scoring four points in a row at 17-9. The Leopards responded by scoring three straight and cut the deficit to just five points before Kindt and Perlberg helped UWO to a 2-1 lead with back-to-back set-winning kills.
La Verne led early in the fourth set with a help of a 3-0 spurt. The Leopards led as late as 11-10 which the Titans flipped the script on with a 7-1 run. The 5-point cushion was enough for the Titans to keep the lead for the rest of the set. La Verne got as close as 24-22 late in the set, however Pearson and Kindt blocked an attack from Mya Ray for the final point.
Kindt, Perlberg and Fregien were joined by Leopards Ray and Malia Capistrano, Graycee Mosley from East Texas Baptist University and Maren Sundberg from Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota) on the All-Tournament Team. Kindt was named the Regional Most Outstanding Player.
The Titans, who earned the No. 1 overall seed in the Elite 8, will head to Claremont, California, for the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division III Championship on Thursday, November 29. They will face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 9 p.m. central time.
