Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DE PERE, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball played its first matches in Wisconsin this season on Tuesday (September 2), defeating both Lakeland University and St. Norbert College in three sets at the Green Knights' Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
 
The Titans (5-0), ranked sixth in Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, beat Lakeland (2-3) in set scores of 25-21, 25-14, 25-17 and St. Norbert (4-2) in 25-17, 27-25, 25-17 scores.
 
For the second time in three years, Oshkosh is off to a 5-0 start to its schedule after winning all three of its games at the Salisbury University (Md.) Margie Knight Classic over the holiday weekend.
 
UW-Oshkosh hit .236 with 88 kills and 27 errors on 259 total attacks across the pair of matches, averaging 14.67 kills per set while holding the Muskies and Green Knights to a combined .114 attack percentage. The Titans also averaged 13.0 assists, 1.50 aces, 20.0 digs, and 2.50 blocks per set.
 
With a .250 hitting percentage against Lakeland, the Titans totaled 43 kills on 136 attacks with nine errors and paced the Muskies with two aces, six blocks, and 36 assists while trailing 71 to 67 in digs.
 
Samantha Perlberg (Chippewa Falls/Chippewa Falls) 17 kills on a .273 attack percentage, followed by Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Community)  with nine kills. Riley Borrowman (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) and Maren Motz (Hartland/Arrowhead Union) both recorded three blocks, Izzy Coon (Fond du Lac/St. Mary's Springs Academy) had a team best 18 assists, and Callie Panasuk's (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) 21 digs were Oshkosh's most in the match.
 
Oshkosh jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first set, the first three of which were unforced Muskie errors. Lakeland tied the score at 7-7, 8-8, and 9-9 before Motz kicked off a 6-point run with her first kill of the day to put the Titans up, 15-9. Lakeland put together one more run of three points late and Oshkosh finished the set with a Perlberg kill.
 
Lakeland claimed a 5-4 edge early in the second set, however Motz again started an Oshkosh run that ended with a 9-5 lead with a kill. The Titans extended their lead with runs of four and five points, eventually scoring the final two points of the set on a Lakeland service error and a Motz-Borrowman block.
 
UW-Oshkosh scored six of the first eight points of set three and responded to a 6-point spurt for the Muskies with a couple small runs that brought the edge back in its favor. The Titans added to their lead with an 8-1 run that included six kills, leading 22-15. Juergens and Perlberg hit back-to-back kills to secure Oshkosh's third sweep of the season.
 
UW-Oshkosh hit above .200 for the fifth match of the season with a .220 clip against St. Norbert, tallying 45 kills on 123 attacks with 18 errors. The Titans led in each statistical category with 61 points, seven aces, nine blocks, 42 assists, and 53 digs.
 
Perlberg recorded at least 17 kills for the fourth match this season, notching 18 against the Green Knights on a .533 attack percentage. Jaclyn Dutkiewicz (Franklin/Franklin) and Juergens both served a trio of aces, Emmy Wizceb (Sullivan/Johnsburg (Ill.)) blocked five attacks, Dutkiewicz paced Oshkosh with 21 assists, and Panasuk registered 16 digs.
 
St. Norbert took an early lead in the first set of UW-Oshkosh's second match of the day with four straight points; however, a service error handed the ball to the Titans who added four more points of their own with two kills and two of Dutkiewicz's aces. The Green Knights tied the score five more times before two runs of four points helped Oshkosh increase its lead to 22-15. The final five points with three scored by the Titans and two tallied by the Green Knights.
 
Without more than 3-point runs, St. Norbert led by as much as four points twice in the second set before UW-Oshkosh cut down the lead, eventually tying the score at 21-21 on an ace from Coon. The teams knotted the score through the 25th point to force extra play in the set and like three of the previous four sets in De Pere, a Titan finished the set with a kill, this time coming off an attack by Perlberg.
 
The Titans rallied off four points to begin the third set and the Green Knights tallied five of their own to grab the lead, however the hosts never scored more than twice in a row down the stretch while Oshkosh strung together runs of three and five points to slowly build up its lead. St. Norbert extended the final set with a block on match point to make the score 24-17 before a service error sealed the set and match win for Oshkosh.
 
The Titans open their home schedule this weekend with the annual Marty Petersen Invitational at Kolf Sports Center on Friday and Saturday (September 5-6). They play No. 11 Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) (4-0), Marian University (0-3), No. 5 Emory University (Ga.) (3-0), and No. 15 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) (3-0).