UW-Oshkosh Captures Women’s Volleyball Tournament Title

**UW-Oshkosh Sports Information Contributed To This Recap

OSHKOSH, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women’s Volleyball Tournament with a 18-25, 21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 15-13 triumph at Kolf Sports Center on Nov. 15.

It is the fifth tournament title in program history and first since 2008. UW-Oshkosh (28-3) also secured the conference’s automatic NCAA bid with the victory. The win over UW-Eau Claire (27-4) marked the first reverse sweep in the championship match of the WIAC Tournament since 1998.

In a match that included five total double-doubles, UW-Oshkosh’s Samantha Perlberg hit .283 with 21 kills and 17 digs, Grace Juergens put up 18s in both kills and digs, and Jaclyn Dutkiewicz had 30 assists and 12 digs.

Izzy Coon led the Titans with 31 assists, Callie Panasuk put up a match-best 27 digs, and Emmy Wizceb notched five blocks (one solo) with her four kills.

The Titans and Blugolds traded the first seven points of the opening set, and the deficit never grew to more than four points until UW-Eau Claire tallied the final four points.

Early in the second set, UW-Oshkosh took a 4-2 lead before UW-Eau Claire went on a 7-1 run. The Titans closed the gap to a point when a service error gave them the lead and Perlberg hit back-to-back kills to make the score 11-10. They kept the score close for a few serves, but a 6-1 spurt created a five-point deficit UW-Oshkosh couldn't overcome. Another Blugold kill sent the match into the third set with a 2-0 lead in UW-Eau Claire's favor.

UW-Oshkosh responded to an early hole with four consecutive points in the third set. Wizceb had a hand in each point, pairing with Juergens for a block, tallying two kills, and pairing with Perlberg for another block. The Blugolds claimed a pair of one-point leads before Perlberg broke a 20-20 tie with a kill and the Titans went 4-1 to win their first set.

The Titans scored four of the first five points of the fourth set and fought off a tied score by going 4-2 over the next six serves. UW-Oshkosh added a 5-1 run to lead 17-14 before the Blugolds knotted the score at 21, 22 and 24 points Wizceb and Maren Motz recorded back-to-back kills to tie the set score at two apiece.

UW-Eau Claire jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the fifth set; however the edge did not last long as UW-Oshkosh immediately recorded a three-point streak to flip the lead. The Titans extended their lead with two Perlberg kills and an unforced error through their ninth point and added two 2-0 runs to retain a small edge. After the Blugolds made the score 14-13 with a pair of kills, Motz registered the Titans' 68th kill of the match, finishing the set and match.

UW-Eau Claire’s Abby Stanwood and Bailey Leeke each recorded double-doubles. Stanwood recorded 21 kills and 22 digs, while Leeke produced 23 kills and 17 digs.

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