OSHKOSH, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball is headed to the NCAA Division III Championship Quarterfinal Round for the third straight year after sweeping Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) by scores of 25-18, 25-17, 25-20 in the Oshkosh Regional championship on Saturday night (Nov. 22).
 
UW-Oshkosh (31-3) has competed in 21 NCAA postseasons and has now reached the quarterfinal round eight times (1991, 1994, 1996, 2008, 2009, 2023, 2024, and 2025).
 
Oshkosh completed the season sweep of WashU (24-9) on Saturday after winning, 3-1, in the Marty Petersen Invitational at Kolf Sports Center on September 5. In NCAA postseason competition however, the Bears held a 3-0 edge headed into Saturday's regional championship, winning in the semifinal round in 1991, the national championship match in 1994, and the second round in 2007.
 
The Titans, ranked third in NCAA Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, held WashU to a .073 hitting percentage while hitting at a clip of .220 themselves. They also led in kills (43-30), assists (37-31), service aces (7-2), digs (70-64), and team blocks (8-4).
 
Oshkosh claimed an early in edge in set one as Samantha Perlberg (Chippewa Falls/Chippewa Falls) tallied two kills and the Titans scored on an unforced error. They later extended their lead to 13-8 with another pair of 3-0 runs while holding the Bears without more than two points in a row. After holding a set-high 20-12 lead, WashU scored four points in a row to make the score 23-18 before Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Community) recorded a kill and Riley Borrowman (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) and Maren Motz (Hartland/Arrowhead Union) combined for a block to win the set.
 
The Titans jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set; however, the Bears went 5-0 to flip the lead and fought off a 9-9 tie but couldn't prevent Oshkosh from registering a four-point run that included another Perlberg kill, a solo block by Hannah Moe (Oconto/Oconto), and a combination block by Moe and Lauren Grier (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac). The Titans added two three-point streaks to reach set point and went up by two sets when Juergens killed a set from Izzy Coon (Fond du Lac/St. Mary's Springs Academy).
 
Perlberg scored the first point of the third set and added two more during a 4-0 run that made the score 5-1. WashU used a 4-0 spurt to tie the Titans at 14-14, however two kills from Perlberg and an ace from Borrowman kept the edge in Oshkosh's favor. The Bears scored twice in a row just once more in the match and Oshkosh added a 3-0 run to build up to the eventual match-winning kill by Borrowman.
 
Juergens paced the Titans with 15 kills and a .282 hitting percentage. She also recorded 10 digs and a service ace in the match. Perlberg was the second Titan in double-digit kills with 11 to go with her 13 digs.
 
Coon assisted 20 kills across the three sets while Callie Panasuk (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) dug 18 attacks.
 
Grier and Moe finished the night with four blocks, including one solo block, each, and Borrowman served up three total aces.
 
Perlberg was named the regional's most outstanding player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Grier and Panasuk. The honor was Perlberg's second after being named the Marietta, Ohio Regional Most Outstanding Player after the first weekend of the 2024 tournament. Titans have claimed each of the last three most outstanding awards at their regionals; Riley Kindt (Brookfield/Brookfield East) was named the Oshkosh Regional Most Outstanding Player in 2023.
 
Perlberg, Grier, and Panasuk were joined on the all-tournament team by Bears Sam Buckley and Ellie Laird, Taylor Bechen from University of Dubuque (Iowa), and Maren Sundberg from Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.).
 
The Titans will head to Bloomington, Illinois for the national quarterfinal on Wednesday, December 3. The eight team-quarterfinal, including No. 1 nationally ranked East Texas Baptist University (34-0), No. 16 Berry College (Ga.) (27-7), No. 19 Calvin University (Mich.) (28-3), No. 7 Colby College (Maine) (26-3), No. 5 University of La Verne (Calif.) (28-2), No. 11 Trinity University (Texas) (25-5), and fellow WIAC program No. 4 UW-Eau Claire (30-4).
 
Oshkosh played three of the quarterfinalists four times in the regular season, defeating Colby, 3-2, on October 25 in Whitewater, losing to La Verne, 3-2, on September 12 in Oshkosh, beating Eau Claire, 3-1, on November 7 in Oshkosh, and winning the fifth WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) championship in program history over Eau Claire in five sets on November 15 in Oshkosh.