MARIETTA, Ohio- For the second straight season, UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball will be playing in the third round of the NCAA Division III Championship.
 
The Titans (28-5), ranked seventh in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, dropped the first set to the University of Chicago (Ill.) (25-11) in the Marietta, Ohio Regional on Friday (Nov. 22) by a score of 18-25 before winning the following three, 25-20, 25-16, and 25-16.
 
UW-Oshkosh hit .182 as a team with 50 kills, seven aces, 12 blocks, 48 assists, and 73 digs. The Maroons recorded a .102 hitting percentage and tallied 41 kills, four aces, six blocks, 38 assists, and 67 digs.
 
Robyn Kirsch (Sr. • Wausau) and Sami Perlberg (So. • Chippewa Falls) led the team with 12 kills each. Kirsch hit .423 on 26 total attacks while Perlberg recorded one of the Titans' two double-doubles with 12 digs. The other double-double went to Riley Kindt (Fifth • Brookfield), who tallied 11 kills and 10 digs. Kalli Mau (Fifth • Kimberly) led Oshkosh with 23 assists, followed with 17 by Izzy Coon (Jr. • Fond du Lac). Lauren Grier (So. • Fond du Lac) blocked eight total attacks (one solo) and Abby Fregien (Sr. • Waukesha) recorded 19 digs.
 
The Maroons broke ahead early in the first set on a 4-0 run to make the score 5-3. They extended their lead on spurts of three and four points and led by as much as nine points before the teams traded side outs between 11-17 and 15-22. Grier and Kirsch combined for a block, Kirsch hit a kill, and Fregien tallied a point from the service line to decrease the deficit to 23-18 before UChicago scored the next two points and went up 1-0.
 
UChicago responded to a service ace by Malia Winchel (So. • Oak Creek) with a 5-point run at the start of set two and retained the lead until Joslyn Wolff (Sr. • Reeseville) tied the score at 9-9. Kirsch tied the score again at 11-11 with a kill before the Titans scored six straight points made up of five kills and a block to lead 17-12. The Maroons and Titans scored two consecutive points twice more and Wolff recorded the 25th point to tie the set score.
 
UW-Oshkosh was in the driver's seat for the entirety of the third set, starting with three points out of the gate. Its lead grew on runs of five and four points while the Maroons scored at three in a row just once. A UChicago attack error ended the set.
 
The Titans followed a 5-0 spurt for UChicago with their own and the scored was tied again at 6-6, 7-7, and 8-8 but Oshkosh had its eyes on a return trip to the Sweet Sixteen. Kindt recorded an ace after getting the serve on a service error and Grier notched her solo block to give UW-Oshkosh an 11-8 edge. Three more times across the final set, the Titans tallied three consecutive points. Kindt's 11th kill brought the score to match point and Olivia Breunig (Sr. • Sauk Prairie) recorded the winning point on a kill from Coon.
 
The Titans will face Illinois Wesleyan University (24-9), which is receiving votes in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll on Saturday (Nov. 23) at 7 p.m. eastern time. Illinois Wesleyan defeated host No. 9 Marietta in straight sets on Friday to advance to the third round for the second time in program history. The two teams of Titans most recently faced in the Washington University in St. Louis, (Mo.) Invitational on Oct. 14, 2023. UW-Oshkosh won in four sets by scores of 25-13, 21-25, 25-23, and 25-16.