By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information
Oshkosh, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team took down top-seeded UW-Oshkosh in a five-set thriller to claim the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title for the third straight season. The Warhawks secured the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship with the win setting blocking records along the way. The 3-2 victory featured set scores of 20-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-18 and 15-12 for the program’s 19th league tournament title.
It was a purple block party in Oshkosh Saturday night — UWW registered 21.0 total blocks as a team breaking the program record for blocks in a single match. That mark is also the most by any Division III team this season. Both middle hitters, Hannah Proctor and Abbie Dix, registered double digit blocks in the match with 10 and 11 respectively.
The Titans used a 6-1 midset run to open up a 19-12 advantage leading to the first set win.
The Warhawks responded in a big way. The offense hit .500 in set two while the defense held UWO to a .000 attack efficiency. An 8-1 run in the middle of the set gave UWW a 13-7 lead. The Warhawks capped the set scoring seven of the last eight points. The final point came on a huge Jenna Weinfurt and Proctor block.
Set three went the Titans’ way but, once again, UWW had the response. The Warhawks held UWO to a hitting percentage of .041 in the fourth while the offense limited errors. A huge 8-0 run opened up a 19-8 lead for UW-Whitewater. Weinfurt and Dix teamed up for a block while Dix joined Aubrie Krzus on another in the run. All three added a kill in the series. Proctor put the finishing touches on the set with a kill to force the decisive fifth set.
The fifth was a nail-biter with the Titans pushing a lead to 10-7 on a four-point spurt. Like they had been doing the whole match, the Warhawks used a big block to sway momentum in UWW’s favor. Dix teamed with Chloe Werner to spark a run. Following a Titan point, UW-Whitewater ran off the next six to force match point, 14-11. The run featured three consecutive blocks — Alayna Jansky and Dix on the first followed by a solo from Dix and finally a Krzus and Dix double that made it 12-11. A Titan miscue made it 13-11 and a Jansky kill gave UWW match point.
UWO pushed a second match point but Dix pounded down a kill for the final point of the match.
Jansky led UWW with 18 kills while Weinfurt added 17. Dix added 10 kills in the contest. Krzus tallied 49 assists and added six blocks.
Jaedynn Evans bolstered the defense with a match-high 24 digs while Jansky posted 14 and Ally Longden had 10.
The Warhawks automatically qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship and will find out where they are headed, or if they are staying in Whitewater, during the NCAA Selection Show set for noon Monday.
