Katelyn Malcheski had 18 kills as the UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team erased a two-set deficit and defeated UW-Whitewater, 3-2, in a battle of nationally ranked conference rivals on Wednesday (Sept. 23) in Kolf Sports Center.

The Titans (13-3, 1-0 WIAC) entered the match ranked 22nd in the NCAA Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association while the Warhawks (10-3, 0-1 WIAC) were listed 15th.

UW-Oshkosh, which had lost seven of the eight previous meetings with UW-Whitewater, won by set scores of 14-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-6.

Nerissa Vogt added 11 kills and a match-best six blocks for the Titans. Vogt entered the match ranked second in the NCAA Division III with 62 blocks on the season.

Lexi Thiel led all players with 45 assists in piloting the UW-Oshkosh attack. She chipped in 11 digs for her 17th career double-double. Mandy Trautmann paced the Titan back row with 28 digs.

UW-Oshkosh hit a combined -.012 with 17 kills during the first two sets. The Titans rebounded to hit .233 with 15 kills in the third frame and limited UW-Whitewater to a -.129 hitting percentage in Set 5.

UW-Whitewater ended the match with advantages in kills (51-49), hitting percentage (.150 to .106) service aces (7-3) and digs (86-82). UW-Oshkosh had an 11-6 edge in blocks.

The Warhawks scored seven consecutive points to take a 15-8 lead in the opening set and rattled off six in a row for a 19-11 advantage in the second frame on their way to a commanding two-set lead.

Trailing 9-7 in Set 3, UW-Oshkosh tallied four consecutive points, including two on kills by Malcheski, and hung onto the lead for the remainder of the frame. UW-Whitewater pulled within 22-19 on a kill by Sydney Racky, but back-to-back kills by Vogt and Rachel Smith provided the Titans with set point at 24-19. Following a Warhawks kill, Malcheski's termination on the next point extended the match.

The fourth set was tied for the 10th and final time at 21 before a kill from UW-Oshkosh's Brooke Brinkman and a ball-handling by UW-Whitewater gave the Titans a 23-21 cushion. Brinkman's solo block upped UW-Oshkosh's lead to 24-21, and UW-Whitewater's Lauren Pfeifer and Malcheski provided kills to close the set.

UW-Oshkosh raced out to a 6-2 lead in the final set on a UW-Whitewater ball-handling error and extended the advantage to 10-4 on four straight attack errors by the Warhawks. UW-Whitewater committed three more consecutive attack errors to give UW-Oshkosh a 14-6 lead, and Vogt hammered down a kill to end the contest. The Warhawks had four kills and eight hitting errors in the fifth set, while the Titans had six kills and just two errors.

Racky had a match-best 19 kills for UW-Whitewater, which also received 12 kills and 10 digs from Pfeifer, 10 kills from Brittney Langley, 42 assists and 13 digs from Staci Hasler, and a match-high 35 digs from Brittany Robinson.

Eight of the last 17 meetings between the teams have gone five sets. UW-Oshkosh owns a 5-3 record in those five-set matches with UW-Whitewater since 2005.

UW-Oshkosh travels to UW-Platteville next Wednesday (Sept. 30) for another WIAC contest.