OSHKOSH, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball welcomed St. Catherine University (Minn.) and the University of Northwestern (Minn.) to Kolf Sports Center on Saturday (Sept. 20) for a midseason triangular. The Titans swept St. Kate's in the first match of the day before falling to Northwestern in five to conclude the day.
 
The third-ranked Titans (13-2, 1-0 WIAC) beat the Wildcats (4-9, 0-0 MIAC) by set scores of 25-16, 25-18, 25-15. The Eagles (6-5, 0-0 UMAC) won the first and third sets of their match against the Titans, 25-21 and 27-25, and UW-Oshkosh won the second and fourth, 25-23 and 25-18, to force a decisive fifth set. Northwestern took the set and match with a 15-9 victory to hand UW-Oshkosh its second loss of the season.
 
UW-Oshkosh recorded 57.0 points in the match against St. Kate's, hitting .151 with 32 kills on 106 attacks with 16 errors. The Titans tallied 13 aces to the Wildcats' two and led 12-3 in blocks, 31-27 in assists, and 56-52 in digs.
 
Lauren Grier (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac) posted nine kills and 6.5 blocks for a 16.5-point match. Samantha Perlberg (Chippewa Falls/Chippewa Falls) recorded the second-highest kill total with eight while Jaclyn Dutkiewicz (Franklin/Franklin) paced Oshkosh with 17 assists and six service aces and Callie Panasuk (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) notched 18 digs.
 
UW-Oshkosh broke away in the first set with a 4-point run that included two sets by Dutkiewicz which Maren Motz (Hartland/Arrowhead Union) used to record kills and a block by Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Community) and Riley Borrowman (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) for a 10-7 lead. The Wildcats reclaimed the lead with a 4-0 run of their own before Oshkosh responded with five straight points. The Titans added a 7-1 run that stretched from 19-15 to the end of the set.
 
The Wildcats took an early 7-2 edge in the second set by scoring the first two points and going 4-0, however UW-Oshkosh chipped away at the lead with short runs until an ace by Izzy Coon (Fond du Lac/St. Mary's Springs Academy) handed the team the lead. St. Kate's stuck within a point before Perlberg hit a kill, Motz and Grier combined for a block, Grier recorded a kill, and Grier blocked an attack by herself to create an 18-13 lead. The teams traded pairs of points for number of serves and the Titans grabbed the 2-0 set lead with three points to win 25-18.
 
After St. Kate's outscored UW-Oshkosh, 3-2, in the first five serves of set three, the Titans rattled off seven points in the next eight serves with only two points scored on an unforced Wildcat error. A later 4-0 spurt by the Wildcats brought the score within a point at 13-12 and they would get within a point two more times, however another unforced error started a 9-0 run for Oshkosh that ran the distance, and the match was concluded when Perlberg recorded her eighth kill of the day.
 
Against the Eagles, UW-Oshkosh hit .262 (73 kills, 183 attack, 25 errors) and led 68-62 in assists and 71-70 in digs. Northwestern held a 9-5 edge in service aces and a 10-7 lead in blocks.
 
Perlberg hit .255 with 24 kills and 15 digs in her second match of the day, followed by Grier and Juergens with 11 kills. Coon recorded a team best 34 assists and Dutkiewicz had 27. Coon (13), Panasuk (12), and Juergens (11) also reached double-digit digs.
 
It took 29 serves for a team to take a lead of more than two points in the first set. The Eagles broke a 13-13 tie with three consecutive points, but the Titans stuck close and retied the score at 18-18. Northwestern reached a 4-point lead with a service ace that also represented set point, then winning with a block.
 
The Titans climbed back from an early 4-1 deficit in the second set with three points that made the score 5-6. Northwestern then jumped out to another 4-point edge before a 5-1 run flipped the lead in Oshkosh's favor. Following two more lead changes, Motz hit a pair of kills for the 24th and 25th points to tie the set score at 1-1.
 
UW-Oshkosh and Northwestern started the third set by trading points and short runs, tying nine times before McEniry hit two kills, Juergens recorded another, and Carly Stamm (Winneconne/Neenah) served an ace to hand the Titans a 17-14 lead. The Eagles reclaimed the lead with four points and reached set point with three more. Oshkosh tied the score at 24-24 and 25-25 to force extra points, however two straight Eagle points put the visitors up again by sets.
 
Three early kills by Juergens and Stamm gave the Titans a fourth set lead their never relinquished. UW-Oshkosh extended their lead with a 5-0 spurt and two runs of three points, eventually leading, 19-10. The Eagles clawed their way back within a few points, but the deficit was too large and Juergens and Grier blocked an attack for the set win to trigger the winner-take-all fifth set.
 
Perlberg recorded her 23rd kill of the match to start the fifth set and the Titans added two more points to lead 3-1 before a 6-1 lead for the Eagles swapped the edge in their favor at 8-5. Northwestern held the Titans to a point at a time for the rest of the set while it scored in pairs three times, including the last two points of the match.
 
The Titans will host UW-Stevens Point for their third annual Community Night on Friday (Sept. 26). UW-Oshkosh Athletics and the women's volleyball program welcome the community to Kolf Sports Center to watch high-level collegiate volleyball for free with a kid's carnival available between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. with a variety of activities for children. When the Pointers came to Oshkosh for the inaugural Community Night, attendance was 2,725, the fifth-highest attended regular season women's volleyball game in NCAA Division III history.