MARIETTA, Ohio- The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team is headed to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division III Championship for the second straight season and the seventh time in program history.
 
Of UW-Oshkosh's 20 NCAA Division III postseason trips, it has reached the quarterfinal round seven times (1991, 1994, 1996, 2008, 2009, and 2023).
 
The No. 7 nationally ranked Titans (29-5) defeated Illinois Wesleyan University (24-10) in straight sets on Saturday (Nov. 23) by scores of 25-19, 25-19, and 25-20 in the championship match of the Marietta, Ohio Regional at the Pioneers' Ban Johnson Arena. UW-Oshkosh hit .320 as a team on 122 total attacks and held Illinois Wesleyan to .198 on 111. The Titans led 52 to 34 in kills, 46 to 28 in assists, and 57 to 48 in digs. The two teams of Titans each recorded four service aces and Illinois Wesleyan led four to two in blocks.
 
Sami Perlberg (So. • Chippewa Falls) registered a career high .615 hitting percentage with 18 kills on 26 attacks, adding three aces and five digs for 18 points. Joslyn Wolff (Sr. • Reeseville) and Riley Kindt (Fifth • Brookfield) reached double-digit kills at 14 and 11. Izzy Coon (Jr. • Fond du Lac) led Oshkosh's setters with 23 assists, while fellow setter Kalli Mau (Fifth • Kimberly) recorded 16 assists and a pair of aces. Abby Fregien (Sr. • Waukesha) tallied 18 digs.
 
The Titans broke away early in the first set with four consecutive points to lead 5-1. They extended their lead with another 4-0 run, adding a 5-point spurt for an 18-11 edge before Illinois Wesleyan scored four straight, cutting the deficit to four points. The Illinois Titans got within three points of Oshkosh twice more until a Wolff kill, a Malia Winchel (So. • Oak Creek) aces and an Illinois Wesleyan attack error brought UW-Oshkosh to 25 points.
 
UW-Oshkosh grabbed the lead first again in set two, staying within two points of Illinois Wesleyan until a 6-1 streak put it up 12-6. Over the course of the set, Oshkosh strung together short runs while holding the other Titans to no more than a point in-a-row until three consecutive points to make the score 23-18. Kindt and Olivia Breunig (Sr. • Sauk Prairie) each earned a kill on assists from Coon to close out the set and bring UW-Oshkosh within a set of the national quarterfinal.
 
Perlberg notched the first point of the third set to put UW-Oshkosh up before the teams traded small leads. Runs of four, three, and three points increased the Titans' edge to up to five points while they restricted Illinois Wesleyan to just one streak of three points. A service error by Illinois Wesleyan gave the serve to Oshkosh at 23-20. Perlberg reached 18 kills with the match-point attack and an out of bounds attempt sent UW-Oshkosh to the Elite Eight.

Perlberg was named the Marietta Regional Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Kindt and Fregien.
 
Joining the Titans for the quarterfinal of the national tournament are two-time defending champion No. 1 Juniata College (Pa.) (32-0), No. 2 Hope College (Mich.) (28-2), No. 3 Johns Hopkins University (Md.) (32-2), No. 5 Emory University (Ga.) (29-2), No. 6 UW-Whitewater (29-3), No. 11 Washington & Lee (Va.) (35-2), and No. 13 University of La Verne (Calif.) (26-5). The eight remaining teams will be reseeded ahead of the final three rounds