Titans reach first national championship match since 1994 with NCAA semifinal sweep of Trinity

The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team celebrates its semifinal win Thursday in the NCAA Division III Championship. Photo by Ashtin Elder of Kodiak Creative.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.- UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball remained perfect in the NCAA Division III Championship on Thursday night (Dec. 4), defeating Trinity University (Texas) in three sets in the semifinal round of the tournament at Illinois Wesleyan University's Shirk Center.

The No. 3 nationally ranked Titans (33-3), who are seeded second in the championship, have not dropped a set since the WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) championship match against UW-Eau Claire at Kolf Sports Center on Saturday, November 15. The Blugolds won the first two sets before Oshkosh took the last three to win the conference tournament title for the fifth time in program history. They won Thursday's match by set scores of 25-12, 27-25, 25-19.

The Titans swept through regional competition at home by beating Greenville University (Ill.), No. 25 Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.), and No. 21 Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) to advance to the national quarterfinal for the third consecutive year. They then got the proverbial monkey off their back on Wednesday (Dec. 3) with a three-set win over No. 19 Calvin University (Mich.) in the second match of the day.

The Tigers (26-6), ranked 11th and seeded sixth, won over Manhattanville University (N.Y.), Salisbury University (Md.), and No. 9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the regional rounds and beat No. 7 and third-seeded Colby College (Maine) in five sets to reach the semifinal.

Heading into the match, Trinity held a 7-4 record against Oshkosh, however the Tigers had not won a match since 2017.

Oshkosh will play in the national championship match for the second time in program history and the first time since 1994. They won a pair of home matches over UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire before defeating St. Olaf College (Minn.) on the road and Juniata College (Pa.) in Ithaca, New York before dropping the title match to WashU in the middle of the Bears' six consecutive national championships from 1991-96.

The Titans recorded a .248 hitting percentage with 52 kills on 129 total attacks with 20 errors while holding the Tigers to a .079 clip with 29 kills and 19 errors on 126 total attacks. Trinity led, 9-5, in team blocks while Oshkosh held the advantage in points (62-40.5), kills (52-29), service aces (4-2), assists (48-26), and digs (67-50).

Samantha Perlberg (Chippewa Falls/Chippewa Falls) got the match started with a kill and followed a kill by Lauren Grier (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac) with another to create an early 2-1 edge. A Tigers service error and back-to-back unforced attack errors increased Oshkosh's edge to 6-2 before Perlberg got an 8-0 run started with a kill. Trinity responded to a four-point run by the Tigers with five in a row that featured a kill by Riley Borrowman (Oswego, Ill./Oswego), three Perlberg kills, and a combination block by Perlberg and Lauren Grier (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac) to make the score 23-11. Trinity got the serve back after a service error by Borrowman, however Oshkosh notched the next two points to take the set.

The Tigers jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set and went on a 6-0 spurt after Oshkosh tied the score at 7-7, eventually leading, 15-7. The Titans responded with a 7-1 run with a Juergens kill and five Perlberg kills to bring the score back within a point at 16-15. The set was tied at 20-20, 22-22, 23-23, 24-24, and 25-25 before Grier took the set into her own hands by hitting a kill and recording a solo block to set the match to set three.

The beginning of the third set remained close through 7-7 with six tied scores through that point. An attack error gave the Titans the serve and they tallied five more points, including two Perlberg kills, a Maren Motz (Hartland/Arrowhead Union) kill, and a Borrowman kill, before the Tigers scored again. Trinity used a 6-1 run to get within a point at 16-15, however Clare McEniry (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) kept the Tigers at bay with a kill. Juergens started a five-point run with a kill and Borrowman ended it with one of her own, bringing the match to set point. Following two Trinity points, Borrowman sent Oshkosh to the national championship with her ninth kill of the night.

Perlberg recorded her 12th straight double-digit kill match with 19, which was also her 17th in Oshkosh's last 19 matches. With a .293 hitting percentage, she suffered seven attack errors on 41 total attacks while adding 10 digs for her 20th double-double and blocked two shots.

Juergens registered a matching 12 kills and 12 digs while Borrowman finished a kill short of a double-double with nine kills and 10 digs.

Izzy Coon (Fond du Lac/St. Mary's Springs Academy) led all players with 26 assists, followed by 17 from Jaclyn Dutkiewicz (Franklin/Franklin) while Callie Panasuk (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) had game highs of 24 digs and three service aces.

At the net, Lauren Grier (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac) totaled four blocks (one solo) and added five kills.

Championship match

The Titans will play No. 5 and third seed University of La Verne (Calif.) (30-2) after La Verne defeated No. 16 and eight seed Berry College (Ga.) (28-8).

The national championship match takes place at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+ and will also be available on Disney Plus and Hulu with an additional subscription.

Oshkosh is 2-1 against the Leopards since 1985 with wins coming on Sept. 14, 2002 (3-2) and Nov. 18, 2023 (3-1) in the NCAA Championship Third Round. La Verne took an early-season match this year, 3-2, at Kolf Sports Center.

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