WHITEWATER, Wis.- With career performances from Samantha Perlberg (Chippewa Falls/Chippewa Falls) and Callie Panasuk (Oak Creek/Oak Creek), UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball outlasted UW-Whitewater in a road battle between two top-25 programs by set scores of 19-25, 25-14, 31-33, 25-17, 15-12 on Wednesday night (Oct. 29).
 
The Titans (24-2, 6-0 WIAC), ranked third in Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, won their 11th consecutive match, the longest streak this season, by outhitting Whitewater, .198 to 137 and recording 71 kills to the Warhawks' 54.

Oshkosh also led 7-6 in service aces, 69-53 in assists, and 91-76 in digs while both teams recorded 13 team blocks.

The No. 10-ranked Warhawks dropped to 21-6 overall and 2-4 in the WIAC. They had not lost more than three conference games in the 21st century, going a 25-year low 5-3 in 2013 before qualifying for the NCAA Division III Championship as an at-large bid.
 
Samantha Perlberg's (Chippewa Falls/Chippewa Falls) career night counted 32 kills (.375 hitting percentage), which tied the Titans' all-time single match best, and four block assists for a personal best 34 points while adding two assists and 20 digs. The last time a Titan had as many kills in a match came when Jessie Goffard recorded 32 against UW-Eau Claire on September 20, 2001.
 
Lauren Grier (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac) and Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Community) tallied 12 kills apiece. Juergens recorded the Titans' second double-double of the night with 12 digs and recorded two assists, two service aces, and two block assists. Grier blocked the Warhawks eight total times and was credited with one solo stop at the net.
 
The Titans' ever-present setters, Izzy Coon (Fond du Lac/St. Mary's Springs Academy) and Jaclyn Dutkiewicz (Franklin/Franklin) had 57 of Oshkosh's 69 assists with 33 from Coon and 24 from Dutkiewicz. Both players registered nine digs, Coon served three aces, and Dutkiewicz notched two points from the service line.
 
Leading Oshkosh's defensive effort was Callie Panasuk (Oak Creek/Oak Creek), who recorded her first collegiate 30-dig match with 31 across the five sets and recorded six assists in the attack transition.
 
Whitewater jumped out to an early lead in the first set with an 8-2 run and fought off multiple small spurts by Oshkosh with a 4-0 streak to make the score 16-12. An addition two 3-0 runs kept the lead comfortably in the Warhawks' favor until they took the opening set.
 
Set two was all Oshkosh, as the Titans opened with five consecutive points, including three kills and an ace before tacking on a pair of 3-point spurts to claim an 11-2 edge. The Warhawks managed just one run of at least three points in the set, which Oshkosh responded to with a run of five points, doubling the deficit to 18-9. With a large lead, the teams traded several points before Perlberg recorded the 24th point with a kill and Grier and Clare McEniry (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) combined for a 25th-point block.
 
In a third set that totaled 64 total points, neither squad managed a lead of more than five points, and the edge swapped sides six times. The Titans used two streaks of three points in a row to go up 13-10 and led by as much as 21-16, but Whitewater clawed back into the game by going on a 9-3 run to flip it to a 25-24 score. Oshkosh then tied it up six times before two Warhawk kills ended the extra points thriller.
 
While the fourth set only had a single streak of more than two points, it was Oshkosh's tenacity to retain the edge leading up to its string of seven consecutive points that made the run that much more important. After Whitewater scored the set's first point, the Titans tallied two kills from Maren Motz (Hartland/Arrowhead Union) and Perlberg and kept scoring in pairs to keep the score close. Perlberg broke an 11-11 tie on a kill, and the Titans kept the pressure on during the run with four more kills to make the score 18-11. Whitewater had two 2-0 runs but couldn't close the gap.
 
Whitewater claimed the lead first in the decisive fifth set, 4-2. That edge quickly vanished when Oshkosh used three attack errors, a Dutkiewicz ace, and both a block and a kill from Grier to dash past the 8-point break. The Warhawks came out of the gates with a 6-1 run to make the score 11-10 before Riley Borrowman (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) notched back-to-back kills to regain the lead. Juergens recorded a kill and Coon served up her third ace to bring it to match point and after the Warhawks scored their 12th point, Oshkosh's back row watched the serve pass over their heads to seal the victory.
 
The Titans head south on Friday (Oct. 31) to face No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan University at Shirk Center for a 7 p.m. match. They will remain in Bloomington overnight and play three-time defending national champion and No. 5 nationally ranked Juniata College (Pa.) at 10:30 a.m.
 
UW-Oshkosh will then finish out its regular season slate with a home contest against No. 4 UW-Eau Claire on Friday, November 7 before the WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) begins with the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, November 11. The Titans are guaranteed a top-two seed in the conference postseason with their 6-0 league record.