The UW Oshkosh volleyball team took 2 out of 3 games in the UW Oshkosh Invitational over the past weekend (Sept. 12-13). The No. 3 nationally ranked Titans fell to No. 5 University of La Verne (California) 3-2 to start the invitational, but swept No. 8 Hope College (Michigan) and the University of Chicago to wrap it up the next day. In the match against Hope College, Junior Sami Perlberg recorded her 1,000th kill.
In the game against La Verne, Perlberg led the team with 24 kills. Izzy Coon led with 30 assists in the effort. The Titans started the first set 7-0, along with a 4-0 run and a 5-0 run respectively in the set. UWO was able to cruise to a 25-19 set one win.
The second set of the night was tightly contested as neither team had a lead that was larger than four points while going back and forth. The Titans were able to have the last laugh in the set. With the set tied 25-25, a 2-0 run behind a kill from Perlberg and a Leopard attack error won the Titans the set at 27-25.
Despite falling 21-16 in set three, behind three kills from Perlberg, UWO made a valiant effort to close the gap at 24-23 behind La Verne. Before UWO was able to get the tying point and force the third set to overtime, the Leopards were able to get the final kill to win set three 25-23 and force a fourth set.
The fourth set was where the match shifted La Verne’s way. The set started with a 9-9 tie, but a 4-0 run by the Leopards got them a 13-9 lead. From there, La Verne never relinquished the lead as the Leopards cruised to a win in the fourth set and clinched set four 25-18. In the fifth set, it was all Leopards as two 4-0 runs allowed La Verne to claim an 11-3 lead. UWO couldn’t do much in the fifth set as the Titans fell for the first time in 2025 with a 3-2 loss to the Leopards.
The Titans came back the next day with a doubleheader against Hope College and the University of Chicago.
In the first match of the day against Hope, UWO swept the Flying Dutch 3-0. Perlberg not only led the team with 16 kills, but one of the 16 was her 1,000th kill in her collegiate career.
Set one was all Titans as UWO dominated it from the start. With the Titans winning 8-6, an 8-1 run for UWO behind five Hope errors helped the Titans jump to a 16-7 lead. That run was more than enough as UWO cruised to a 25-12 set one win.
Set two was the closest one of the game as neither team held a lead greater than three points for most of the match while trading punches. That was until UWO went on a 4-0 run to turn an 18-18 game into a 22-18 lead. The cushion was enough as UWO ended the set with a 25-21 win.
The third set was similar to the second set. Both teams traded punches early, but a 3-0 run with a 16-15 lead behind two kills from Perlberg got the Titans a 19-15 lead. And from there, UWO was able to use the cushion and close out the match against the Flying Dutch.
UWO dominated the entire match against the University of Chicago Maroons to wrap up the weekend.
The Titans were able to put sets one and two out of reach to win both 25-13 and 25-15 respectively. Oshkosh then started the third set with a 5-1 run behind two combined kills by Emmy Wizceb and Grace Jurgens. UWO was able to build a lead as high as 18-7 on the way to a 25-17 set three win and a sweep over the Maroons.
The Titans will hit the road on Wednesday, Sept. 17 for its first WIAC game of the season as UWO will travel to Johnson Fieldhouse in Menominee to play against UW-Stout at 7 p.m. UWO will return home at Kolf Sports Center for the UW Oshkosh Triangular on Saturday, Sept. 20, as the Titans will face two teams from Minnesota in St. Catherine University and University of Northwestern-St. Paul. Both matches will start at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
You can check the results of the Titans clash against the UWS Blue Devils at uwoshkoshtitans.com.
