Titans Are Midwest Ten Conference Champions (2-19-17)
After a one-year hiatus of winning either the regular season or conference tournament championship, the UW-Oshkosh men’s volleyball team captured both at the Midwest Ten Conference championship on Saturday (Feb. 18) in DeKalb, Ill. In 2016 the Titans took second in both to stop a 13-year run of capturing either championship.
UW-Oshkosh (12-0) beat Ball State University, 25-14, 25-5 and #25 Northern Illinois University, 25-20, 25-19 to win the regular season conference championship with a perfect 8-0 mark. In its win over the Cardinals the Titans hit .571 with 23 kills on 34 attempts. In a balanced attack Tony D’Acquisto (So. – Franklin) led the team with seven kills and added two blocks and Joe Kuchler (Sr. – Muskego) had seven digs. Sammy Pedersen (Sr. – Muskego) added five kills and Nick Davies (Fr. – Waukesha) had two blocks. Travis Hudson (Sr. – Waukesha) dished out 18 assists to lead the offense.
In the sweep over the Huskies Peter Nordel (Sr. – Torrance, Calif.) had a team leading four blocks and Wesley Morioka (Sr. – Chicago, Ill.) chipped in five kills and two blocks. Travis Hudson dished out 16 assists and provided four kills and three digs, D’Acquisto had four kills and Kuchler scooped up six digs.
In the quarterfinals of the conference championship the Titans picked up another win over the Ball State University on the day with a 25-14, 25-16 sweep. Nordel topped the team with eight kills and five blocks, including two solo stuffs. Pedersen had five service aces and four kills and Davies amassed 11 assists and five kills. Brandon Schmidt (Gr. – Kaukauna) collected five kills, four assists and two blocks and D’Acquisto had two service aces.
In a back and forth semifinal match against rival Illinois State University the Titans prevailed 25-17, 25-23 to reach the conference championship match for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons. Michael Wamboldt (Sr. – Pleasant Prairie) led the team with six digs and Pedersen and Schmidt each had three service aces. Morioka provided six kills and Travis Hudson had 16 assists and five kills.
The Titans went down 5-2 in set one before coming back to tie the score at 11-11 after two consecutive service aces by Schmidt. The Titans went on to build an 18-15 lead and took the first set with a 7-2 run. UW-Oshkosh had trouble offensively in the second set falling behind 23-18 after eight hitting errors throughout the course of the set.
D’Acquisto started the Titans comeback with a solo block and then was helped out on two others as the Titans closed to within 23-21 forcing a time out. The Redbirds helped by committing three hitting errors during the run as the Titans ended the match on a 7-0 run.
In a similar match against #13 Marquette University as in the regular season, the Titans survived a close first set and then rolled in the second stanza to post the victory. The Titans advance to 12-0 on the season and have not lost a set.
In a balanced offense where six players had three or more kills, UW-Oshkosh was led by Devin Hudson (So. – Wauwatosa) with six kills and also had two blocks. Travis Hudson had 15 assists, four digs and three blocks and Jake Martin (So. – New Lenox, Ill.) provided a team leading seven digs. Pedersen chipped in five kills and two service aces and Nordel added three blocks.
“The Midwest Ten Championship is back at Oshkosh,” said Head Coach Brian Schaefer. “The guys had a few ups and downs on the day, but when clutch plays were needed they once again came though. The best thing about our wins is that many people contributed. Our defense and passing was very good and to hold Illinois State University and a very good serving Marquette University without a service ace is pretty impressive.”
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