STEVENS POINT, Wis.- The
top-ranked UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team stayed perfect in WIAC play Friday evening, cruising to a straight-set victory over UW-Stevens Point inside Berg Gym. The Titans took the match in set scores of 25-19, 25-12 and 25-16 to improve to 14-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Oshkosh hit .303 as a team with 42 kills and just 12 errors on 99 attacks while its defense smothered the Pointers throughout the night. Stevens Point managed only 19 kills against 25 errors, finishing the match with a -.064 hitting percentage. The Titans also recorded eight total blocks and held a 41-36 advantage in digs.
Samantha Perlberg (Chippewa Falls/Chippewa Falls) led the Titan attack with a match-high 12 kills on 30 swings while hitting .267 and adding nine digs.
Maren Motz (Hartland/Arrowhead Union) turned in an efficient performance with nine kills and just two errors on 14 attacks for a .500 hitting percentage, while
Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Community) added seven kills and a team-high 10 digs.
Riley Borrowman (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) put down five kills on nine swings to hit .444 and added three block assists.
Lauren Grier (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac) led Oshkosh at the net with five total blocks, including two solo blocks, while adding four kills.
Leah Carlson (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) dished out a team-high 17 assists and served an ace, while
Alex Hopp (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton Community) recorded 16 assists and five digs.
The opening set proved to be the most competitive of the night with 11 ties and three lead changes. Oshkosh put down 17 kills on 37 attacks, with Perlberg, Motz and Juergens helping pace the offense. The Titans hit .297 in the frame and began to create separation as the set progressed, eventually pulling away for a 25-19 victory.
Oshkosh took complete control in the second. The Titans committed just two attack errors while putting down 14 kills on 28 swings for a match-best .429 hitting percentage. The defense was just as dominant, forcing Stevens Point into nine attack errors while allowing only three kills. The Pointers hit -.214 in the frame as the Titans rolled to a 25-12 win and moved within one set of the sweep.
The Titan defense continued to frustrate the Pointers in the third. Grier and Borrowman helped lead Oshkosh's effort at the net as Stevens Point managed five kills and committed 11 attack errors to hit -.200. Oshkosh added 11 kills of its own, and Motz capped an efficient night in which she hit .500 as the Titans took the final set, 25-16, to complete the sweep and improve to 2-0 in WIAC play.
The Titans will be back in action Saturday (Oct. 3) for the UW-Stevens Point Quadrangular, taking on Wheaton College (Ill.) and the University of Dubuque starting at 1 p.m.
