Last weekend, the UWO women’s volleyball team competed in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament for the sixth time in program history in Claremont, California. Unfortunately for the Titans, that time California was short lived as they fell in their Elite Eight match to the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas 3-0 on Wednesday night (Nov. 29). 

Freshman Sami Perlberg led the team with 11 kills, and senior Riley Kindt was able to register eight kills. Izzy Coon and Kalli Mau led the team in assists with 13 and 10 respectively and Abby Fregien and Mau along with Perlberg led the team with eight digs each.

 In the game the Titans just couldn’t close it out vs the Athenas, In set one, the Titans cut a 16-6 deficit down to a 19-15 deficit. But the Athenas were unfortunately able to weather the storm and ended the set on a 6-3 run to win set one. 

Despite the Titans jumping out to a 7-2 lead in set two. The Athenas came back to tie it at 10-10. After that a 5-1 run by the Athenas helped close out set two for CMS. In set three, despite a valiant effort from the Titans to keep their season alive for one more set. CMS went on a 9-1 run to turn a 7-7 game into a 16-8 Athena lead, closing out the game and the Titan’s season.

After the game, Coach Jon Ellmann tried to get the team to realize that despite the loss, there is a lot to be proud of.

“We talked about how much we enjoyed going on this journey together, our seniors legacy, the ability we had to overcome challenges we were faced with,” he said. “We were proud of our ability to consistently play Oshkosh volleyball, the Oshkosh volleyball way.” 

The 2023 season for the Titans was one that will be remembered for a while. UWO finished the season with a 37-2 record while going 33-0 in the regular season. The Titans topped the program’s record to start the year, set by the 2009 UWO volleyball team. UWO also claimed their first outright regular season Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title since 2009.

Ellmann credits the team’s ability to be so close together for this season being so successful.

“I’m so proud of how we found a way to be amazing teammates and friends while maintaining such high standards in our gym,” Ellmann said. 

While the Volleyball team is losing senior leadership, Coach Ellmann expects the experience of this season to help the team next season and beyond. 

“We have a young team that returns a lot as well as a strong 2024 class,” Ellman said. “We have learned a lot from our experiences this season and we are motivated to keep raising the bar.”