#2 Oshkosh Knocks Off #1 Marquette (2-10-06)
In a battle of the two top teams in NIRSA Division I, UW-Oshkosh outlasted Marquette University 24-30, 23-20, 30-27, 30-24,15-13 in a match held Thursday (Feb. 9) in Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles, the defending national champions entered the match as the nation's top ranked team and the Titans, last year's national runner-ups as the second ranked team in the latest poll.
In front of a standing room only crowd, UW-Oshkosh and Marquette University battled for nine ties in the first game before the hosts built a 24-20 lead. The Titans could get no closer as nine missed serves and three receiving errors plagued their comeback attempts. Despite slamming down 17 kills in the first game UW-Oshkosh could only manage a .235 hitting percentage.
The Golden Eagles built a 2-0 game advantage as the Titans mustered only 13 kills in the second game. UW-Oshkosh only had two missed serves in the stanza but inconsistent passing led to a predictable offense in the defeat.
A line-up change helped the Titans gain momentum as they squeaked out a close third game win. Tied at 24-24, UW-Oshkosh received two straight kills from Jeff Thomas (Sr. - Madison) and a serving ace from James Bradley (So. - Racine) to pull out to a 27-24 advantage. The Golden Eagles pulled to within 27-26 before two kills by Mike Semrad (Sr. - Waukesha) gave the Titans game point. A side-out by Marquette University gave the hosts hope before a missed serve gave the game to UW-Oshkosh.
The Titans had 20 kills in the game led by five by Matt Lewin (Sr. - Cudahy) and four by Semrad and Bradley. UW-Oshkosh also scooped us ten digs and added four blocks as a team.
Game four was tight to start before UW-Oshkosh forged ahead 14-10 and 20-16. Marquette University pulled to within 20-19 before UW-Oshkosh went on a 4-0 run to take a five-point advantage. The two combatants traded points for eight serves before the Titans held on to even the match at 2-2. Thomas led the Titans in the fourth game with five kills and Nathan Malewiski (Jr. - New Franken) added four.
After a kill by Semrad started game five, Andrew Sederberg (Sr. - Racine) recorded his first service ace of the match to give the Titans a 2-0 lead. After a side-out by the Golden Eagles, UW-Oshkosh got another kill by Semrad and eventually went up 5-3. A hitting error by the Titans gave the Golden Eagles another point and after a 4-2 run held an 8-7 lead at the side change.
After a kill by Lewin evened the score at 8-8, Brandon Kirkland (Sr. - Racine) followed that by delivering a service ace for a 9-8 advantage for the Titans. A hitting error by Marquette University gave a two-point cushion to UW-Oshkosh. After a side out by the hosts, they knotted the score at 10-10. Lewin answered with another kill and Bradley recorded the Titans third service ace of the game to give the Titans a 12-10 lead.
Marquette University responded by siding out before a kill by Andrew Sederberg gave UW-Oshkosh another two-point lead at 13-11. Again the Golden Eagles sided out and then scored another point to even the score at 13-13. From that point, Lewin recorded his 14th kill of the match to give the Titans a match point opportunity at 14-13. After a clutch dig by Nathan Sederberg (So. - Racine), his brother Andrew set Malewiski who squeezed out a kill between two Golden Eagles' blockers for the win.
Thomas led the Titans with 17 kills, followed by Semrad with 15 and Lewin with 14 putdowns. Bradley ended the match with nine kills and Nathan Sederberg and Malewiski, who came off the bench after the second game, each had eight kills as the team finished with 74 on the night.
Aaron Wayne (So. - New Berlin) ended the match with 15 digs and Thomas had 11 and the both Nathan and Andrew Sederberg had six each. Lewin and Semrad recorded seven blocks each and Kirkland finished the night with four service aces.
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