SALEM, Va.- UW-Oshkosh appeared in its second consecutive NCAA Division III Quarterfinal against Johns Hopkins University (Md.) on Wednesday (Dec. 4) at the Cregger Center in Salem, Va. The match saw 46 tie scores with 18 in the second set and 13 in the third. The Titans took sets two and four while the Blue Jays won sets one, three, and the deciding set five.
 
UW-Oshkosh (29-6) hit .236 on the match on 191 total attacks with an individual set high of .257 in the fourth. The Titans notched 69 kills to the Blue Jay's (33-2) 74 and led eight to four in aces. Johns Hopkins blocked eight attacks against Oshkosh's six, also leading 72 to 65 in assists and 85 to 78 in digs. The Titans were seeded seventh before the quarterfinal round began and the Blue Jays were seeded second.
 
Wednesday's match was the fifth 5-set clash of the season for UW-Oshkosh and the first for Johns Hopkins, which before the quarterfinal hadn't lost a set since a 3-1 win over Dickinson College (Pa.) on Nov. 6.
 
Sami Perlberg (So. • Chippewa Falls) recorded 23 kills, her third 20-plus kill match of the season and most among all players, with a .340 hitting percentage. She registered a double-double with 15 digs and added three service aces.
 
Riley Kindt (Fifth • Brookfield) and Joslyn Wolff (Sr. • Reeseville) both hit at least 10 kills at 15 and 11 respectively. Kalli Mau (Fifth • Kimberly) and Izzy Coon (Jr. • Fond du Lac) led the Titans with 28 and 24 assists with Coon tallying three aces and 11 digs. Lauren Grier (So. • Fond du Lac) surpassed 100 blocks on the campaign (101 total) with four block assists. Abby Fregien (Sr. • Waukesha), the 2024 WIAC Defensive Player of the Year and American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America Honorable Mention, led UW-Oshkosh in digs at 22.
 
Malia Winchel (So. • Oak Creek) served first in the opening set, however the ball went out and the Blue Jays took the ball. Perlberg recorded her first kill of the day in the following rally and Riley Kindt (Fifth • Brookfield) tied the set at 2-2 with a kill of her own, kicking off an 8-1 run. The Titans led, 9-3, before Johns Hopkins tallied four points to bring the score within two points. The Blue Jays then tied the set at 10-10 and 11-11, taking the edge on the following rally and owned a 5-point deficit before kills by Kindt and Olivia Breunig (Sr. • Sauk Prairie) and a Perlberg ace brought UW-Oshkosh within a pair of points (19-17) late in the set. The Blue Jays outscored Oshkosh, 6-4, for the remainder of the set and claimed the set lead at 1-0 with a score of 25-21.
 
The second set was one of side outs and ties. Of the 46 tie scores in the 5-set match, 18 came in set two. Perlberg put the Titans on the board first in the second set with a kill. Neither team led by more than three points across the entire set. Down 23-22 late, Joslyn Wolff (Sr. • Reeseville) hit two kills to force a Blue Jay timeout and an attack error tied the match at a set a piece.
 
Thirteen additional knotted scores came in set three. While UW-Oshkosh scored first, Johns Hopkins kept the score close, breaking a 20-20 score and outscoring the Titans 5-1 in the final six serves to take set three, 25-21.
 
The teams traded small leads early in set four and UW-Oshkosh broke away for the first sizeable lead with three 3-point edges by 10-7. The Blue Jays tied the set at 10-10, 11-11, 16-16, and 18-18, however the Titans retained the lead. Kindt hit a kill to make the score 23-19, Kindt and Perlberg combined for a block for set point, and Perlberg recorded a kill for the 25th point.
 
The Titans couldn't extend their 1-point lead in the decisive fifth set, leading by three points three times. Breaking a 5-5 draw, Johns Hopkins rallied for four consecutive points and held 4-point edges after the bench swap. Oshkosh fought back to being down a point, and the Blue Jays strung together two 2-point streaks to hold the Titans at arm's reach, eventually winning 15-11 and advancing to the NCAA Championship Semifinal for the first time since winning the national championship in 2019 and losing in the quarterfinal round in 2022 and 2023.
 
Johns Hopkins moves on to the national semifinal round and will face sixth-seeded UW-Whitewater (30-3) on Thursday (Dec. 5). The Warhawks swept No. 3 Emory University (Ga.) in the first quarterfinal match of the day.
 
The Titans made their seventh appearance in the national quarterfinal on Wednesday, with previous trips in 1991, 1994, 1996, 2008, 2009, and 2023. They advanced to the semifinal match in 1991, 1994, 1996, and 2009, and reached the national title match in 1994. UW-Oshkosh holds a 32-22 all-time record in the NCAA Division III Championship.