The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team claimed the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-22) sweep of UW-Oshkosh Saturday night, November 10.
With the win the Warhawks …
- won the WIAC Tournament Championship for the 18th time in program history — that’s 14 more than any other school in the league
- secured the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament
- punched their ticket into NCAA Regionals for the 34th time in program history
- snapped UW-Oshkosh’s 34-match win streak
- handed the Titans their first loss of 2023
- broke UWO’s streak of 22 consecutive set victories
As fans would expect a match between the second-ranked team in the nation (UWO) and the sixth (UWW) was a thrilling battle throughout. The Warhawks worked back from an early 4-1 deficit out of the gate to knot the first set 5-5. The squads traded points until UWW went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-10 advantage. The Titans were forced to call a timeout and scored the next three to tie the set once again.
The set continued that way, a back-and-forth battle, all the way until the end. A Titan error gave the Warhawks the first set point, 24-22. UWO registered a kill on the next point before Aubrie Krzus (Wheaton, Ill./Warrenville South) sneakily dumped the ball over on the second hit for the final point and a 1-0 lead in the match for UWW.
The Warhawks never trailed in set two, leading by as much as seven late in the set, 20-13. Still the home team battled back to force two set points before Kirsten Anderson (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) put it away with a kill.
The third set was reminiscent of the first two – back-and-forth early on followed by a Warhawk run that gave UWW a big lead, 17-11. The 8-0 burst featured three kills from outside hitter Jenna Weinfurt (Waukesha, Wis./Catholic Memorial).
The Titans responded with their own 6-0 run to knot the set 17-17. After trading a number of points, UW-Whitewater strung together three in a row to give a little cushion, 21-18. UWW scored three of the next five to force match point, 24-20. After a pair of miscues, middle hitter Hannah Proctor’s (Durand, Ill./Durand) hard cut shot towards the line couldn’t be handled by the Titan libero and the Warhawks stormed the court in celebration.
Anderson was efficient from the middle with 13 kills in 29 attempts with just a single attack error – a hitting percentage of .414. The nation’s top blocker added a solo and six assist blocks in the match. Weinfurt matched Anderson’s kill output with 13 to share match-high honors, adding 10 assists for the double-double. Right side Payton Kuepers (Madison, Wis./Lakeside Lutheran) was integral in UWW’s blocking game with two solo and three assist blocks.
Krzus dished out 32 assists adding a pair of kills, an ace and a block. In the backcourt, Morgan Jensen (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) led all players with 28 digs. Ally Longden (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee) added double digit digs with 13.
Prior to the match Saturday night, WIAC administrators announced the Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete Award. Jensen was selected as the 2023 honoree. She is the 12th Warhawk to earn the award and first since 2016. More information will be released on Monday.
UW-Whitewater will make its 34th appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament slated to start next week. More information including locations of the regional sites, opponent and the entire Division III field will be announced during the selection show on Monday at 12 p.m. available live on ncaa.com.
