OSHKOSH, Wis.- The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team hosted UW-La Crosse at Kolf Sports Center on Wednesday night (Oct. 16), sweeping the Eagles in set scores of 25-13, 25-18, and 25-16.
 
Wednesday was Play For A Cause/Beach Night; the team is currently fundraising to plant 30,000 trees in Costa Rica and help pay for the education of Costa Rican children. The link to donate can be found here.
 
UW-Oshkosh (20-4, 3-1 WIAC), ranked seventh in NCAA Division III in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, moved its winning streak over the Eagles (6-16, 0-4 WIAC) to four matches and won in three sets for the second consecutive season.
 
The Titans hit .347 with 45 kills on 101 total attacks with 10 errors. As well as pacing La Crosse's 28 kills, they also led in assists (44-27), aces (8-1), blocks (46-35), and digs (46-35).
 
Robyn Kirsch (Sr. • Wausau) registered a team-high 11 kills (.421), followed with nine kills by Riley Kindt (Fifth • Brookfield), Lauren Grier (So. • Fond du Lac), and Sami Perlberg (So. • Chippewa Falls). Izzy Coon (Jr. • Fond du Lac) and Kalli Mau (Fifth • Kimberly) each reached double-digit assists at 20 and 15 while Coon, Malia Winchel (So. • Oak Creek) and Kindt all scored two points from the service line. Abby Fregien (Sr. • Waukesha) dug 14 attacks in the match.
 
Grier and Hannah Moe (Jr. • Oconto) each earned kills on assists from Mau to open the match. Coon then helped the Titans extend their lead to 7-1 with an assist to Kindt and two to Perlberg. Two later runs of three points and one of four pushed their edge to double digits, winning on fourth kill of the set.
 
Winchel kicked off the second set with an ace which Grier followed with another kill. The Eagles kept the score close, even taking the lead at 5-4 and 6-5. Kirsch then hit a kill, followed with another by Grier and a Kindt service ace to make the score 8-6 in Oshkosh's favor. The Titans didn't relinquish the lead the rest of the way, and while La Crosse hung in by a few points for a bit, Oshkosh went 6-0 and made the score 21-12. La Crosse outscored Oshkosh 6-2 over the next few serves, climbing back to a 5-point deficit. Grier ended the run on a kill and UW-Oshkosh went up two sets to none on an Eagle attack error
 
Just like the first two sets, the Titans scored the first two points of the third, further matching the first set by going up 7-1 early. Two UW-La Crosse kills began a 5-0 spurt for the Eagles that pulled them within a point at 11-10. Oshkosh then broke ahead by scoring five straight of its own and extended the edge further with another five points, making the score 22-12. La Crosse outscored Oshkosh 4-3 the rest of the way, however the deficit was too large to overcome. Kirsch capped off her 11-kill night with the match-winning kill.
 
The Titans will head to Illinois for a Saturday afternoon nonconference match at Elmhurst College's (Ill.) R.A. Faganel Hall. First serve is set for 3 p.m.