UW-Oshkosh Wins Midwest Ten Conference Championship...Again (2-23-15)
The UW-Oshkosh men's volleyball team continued its unbelievable dominance in the Midwest Ten Conference by capturing their fifth straight tournament championship on Sunday (Feb. 22) in DeKalb, Illinois. UW-Oshkosh has won nine of the last ten championships in a conference that has produced seven collegiate club Division I national championships in the last 11 seasons. The Titans have brought home titles in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The 2012 tournament was canceled due to inclement weather.
"This was as complete of a team win we have had at this championship," said head coach Brian Schaefer. "We had quite a few of our players battling sickness and for us to stick together and bring home the title again shows what kind of togetherness and character our team possesses."
UW-Oshkosh (20-1), ranked #1 in the latest National Collegiate Volleyball Federation Division I poll started play on Saturday (Feb. 21) with a convincing 25-13, 25-19 victory over #25 University of Notre Dame.
Tyler Range (Jr. - Kenosha) had the hot hand for the Titans, slamming down six kills on six attempts. Wesley Morioka (Jr. - Chicago, Ill.) added five kills, Michael Wamboldt (So. - Pleasant Prairie) tallied six digs and Travis Hudson (Jr. - Wauwatosa) dished out 19 assists and added two service aces and four blocks. Tyler Wiedenhoeft (Sr. - Mequon) provided two service aces.
Allen Grunert (So. - Muskego) continued the charge with six kills and four digs in the Titans 25-17, 25-21 win over Ball State University. Erik Harke (Sr. - Kimberly) led the offense with 13 assists, Range had five blocks and Hudson, Range and Michael Starzec (Jr. - Buffalo Grove, Ill.) each added four kills. UW-Oshkosh had seven blocks in the contest.
In a rematch of the 2014 national championship semifinals, UW-Oshkosh led from start to finish in a 25-17, 25-14 victory over #10 Illinois State University. Despite only hitting .125 in the match, the Titans held the Redbirds offense in check with the help of seven service aces and seven blocks. Range again led the Titans with five blocks, including three solo stuffs. Hudson chalked up four service aces and four kills and Morioka had two service aces and four kills.
UW-Oshkosh suffered its first loss of the season in a 20-25, 25-22, 16-14 setback to Marquette University. After hitting .526 in the first set, the Titans offense went south as they had a .192 percentage in set two and hit -.091 in the deciding third frame.
Jake Ahnert (Sr. - Burlington) led the Titans with seven kills and had six blocks. Hudson dished out 23 assists, three blocks and five digs and Harke led the team with six digs.
In their fifth consecutive match on the court, the Titans defeated rival UW-Milwaukee 25-22, 25-15 on a .500 team hitting percentage. Ahnert and Hudson hit .857 on six kills each and Morioka also had six put aways. Ahnert stopped four Panther attacks and Starzec had five kills and three blocks. Hudson ran the offense with 20 assists and had two service aces and three digs.
Range and Morioka each had six kills in the Titans 25-17, 25-22 win over Northern Illinois University. Hudson distributed 19 assists and Tony Mack (So. - Muskego), Ahnert and Grunert each had four kills. Ahnert, Grunert, Range and Hudson also had two blocks in the victory.
The Titans wrapped up the regular season matches on Sunday with a 25-15, 25-16 victory over Iowa State University. UW-Oshkosh hit .480 against the Cyclones, led by Range with a six for six kill performance. Ahnert added six kills and Mack and Starzec each had five as the Titans had 14 in each set. Wamboldt provided four digs and Hudson dished out 19 assists and scooped up five digs. Ahnert had a career-high four service aces and Range had three blocks.
With a 6-1 record during the regular season, UW-Oshkosh won its ninth regular season title in the last 11 years, sharing the crown with Marquette University after they lost to the University of Notre Dame.
Entering the single elimination conference tournament championship as the #2 seed, the Titans defeated Northern Illinois University 25-17, 25-23 in their opening act. The Titans had six players with more than three kills each, led with the six slams by Starzec. Hudson distributed 20 assists and Wiedenhoeft had seven digs. Range had four blocks and five kills and Morioka added five kills on 11 swings.
After a 25-20 victory over UW-Milwaukee in the first set of the semifinals, the Titans let a 22-17 lead evaporate in the second frame to allow a deciding third set against the Panthers after falling 26-24. UW-Oshkosh slammed down 10 kills and got two service aces from Hudson in the third set to pull out the 15-11 win to reach the finals.
Morioka and Range each had eight kills and Starzec and Mack added six as the Titans had 36 in the match. Mack led the team with four blocks and Wiedenhoeft came up big in the backcourt with nine digs. Hudson dished out 27 assists and Range had three blocks.
UW-Oshkosh improved to 2-1 on the season against Marquette University with a tight 25-23, 25-22 win over the Golden Eagles. Morioka and Ahnert each had nine kills in the match to account for 72 percent of the Titans put downs. Wiedenhoeft added five digs and Starzec led the team with three blocks. UW-Oshkosh controlled Marquette University in serve receive by giving up only one service ace against the hard serving Golden Eagles.
Ahnert and Morioka came up time and time again with clutch hitting as Ahnert had seven consecutive kills spread over the end of the first set and into the second frame and Morioka ended the match with four consecutive kills. On championship point, Ahnert, Morioka and Starzec combined on a triple block.
"Each member of our team had a chance to shine this weekend," added Schaefer. "Starzec and Mack came up big in the third set against UW-Milwaukee and we could not have asked for more from Ahnert and Morioka in the finals. Winning championships never gets old and the tradition of our success in the Midwest Ten Conference continues because of the mindset and effort of these 10 individuals."
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