OSHKOSH, Wis.- The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team came into the WIAC Tournament (Presented by Culver's) championship match on Saturday (Nov. 16) on a 13-match winning streak and a 5-set victory over UW-Platteville in the semifinal round on Thursday, however three Titans with double-digit kills were not enough to overcome UW-Whitewater in another 5-set match.
 
The No. 5 nationally ranked Titans combined for 66 kills to the No. 7 Warhawks' 58 and led four to three in service aces, 63 to 53 in assists and 85 to 77 in digs. Whitewater blocked an NCAA Division III season high 21 shots as a team and hit a collective .254 to Oshkosh's six blocks and .144 hitting percentage. UW-Oshkosh won the first and third sets by matching scores of 25-20 while UW-Whitewater won set two (25-14), set four (25-18) and the deciding set five (15-12).
 
Leading the Titans' attack was a familiar face in middle blocker Riley Kindt (Fifth • Brookfield) with 18, followed by outside hitter Sami Perlberg (So. • Chippewa Falls) with 17 and outside hitter Joslyn Wolff (Sr. • Reeseville) at 10. Kalli Mau (Fifth • Kimberly) and Izzy Coon (Jr. • Fond du Lac) shared setting duties, recording 27 and 26 respectively, and Malia Winchel (So. • Oak Creek), the league's assists per set leader (0.54), added another three to her stat sheet.
 
Defensively, Oshkosh's lineup was led by Abby Fregien (Sr. • Waukesha) with 18 digs. Perlberg, Mau, Winchel and Coon also recorded at least 11 digs with 16, 12, 11 and 11 respectively. Lauren Grier (So. • Fond du Lac) was UW-Oshkosh's top blocker with four on the night.
 
The Titans jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the first set on two kills from Kindt, an ace from Coon and a kill from Perlberg before the Warhawks retied the set and kept the score within three points until the back half. Oshkosh scored three straight points to make the score 16-11 and extending its edge to 19-12 on another 3-0 spurt. Whitewater outscored Oshkosh 5-1 and climbed back within three points but couldn't overcome the deficit and Olivia Breunig (Sr. • Sauk Prairie) put the Titans up 1-0.
 
Oshkosh scored the first two points of the second set and led as late as 6-5 until 6 consecutive points put Whitewater up 11-6. The Warhawks slowly extended their edge the rest of the set, including on a 4-0 streak to go up 22-13 and the final three points.
 
The teams stayed close for most of set three, neither leading by more than four points until late. Two attack errors put the Titans up 22-19, followed by another point for Winchel from the service line and another attack error for set point. Robyn Kirsch (Sr. • Wausau) followed a Whitewater kill with her own to end the third set.
 
The Warhawks led throughout the fourth set after scoring the first three points, extending their edge on runs of three and eight points to as much as 19-8. Multiple pairs of points brought Oshkosh within eight points and a 3-0 run on set point made the score 24-18 before Whitewater tied the set score at 2-2.
 
After a pair of service errors to open the fifth set, neither team could score more than two points in a row until Wolff registered a kill that was followed by back-to-back kills from Kirsch and a block by Perlberg and Grier, giving the Titans a 10-7 lead. UW-Whitewater came back by scoring six straight points, including three blocks, making the score 14-11. Perlberg recorded a kill to keep the Titans alive before the Warhawks won the league's automatic bid to the national tournament.
 
The Titans will find out where they will play in the NCAA Division III Championship during the on Monday at noon. The championship selection show will air on NCAA.com.