UW-Oshkosh Wins Hoosier-Illini Classic (2-27-06)
The UW-Oshkosh men's volleyball team went 8-0 and did not lose a game to win the prestigious 40-team Hoosier-Illini Classic held on Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 25-26) in Bloomington, Indiana. The Titans, who reached the top of the NIRSA Division I rankings for the first time in program history earlier in the week improved to 22-0 on the year, their best start in school annuals.
The Titans started the tournament by defeating Florida State University 25-17, 25-20, Earlham College 25-12, 25-10 and the University of Missouri 25-23, 25-17 in pool play. Retaining its number one seed UW-Oshkosh defeated 23rd ranked University of Central Florida 25-23, 25-17 to finish the day,
Highlights for the first four matches included Dan Hessling (Fr. - Greenfield) and Nathan Sederberg (So. - Racine with six kills each against the Seminoles, Matt Lewin (Sr. - Cudahy) slamming down seven kills in eight attempts against Earlham College and Jeff Thomas (Sr. - Madison) with six kills against the Tigers.
Despite only hitting .053 in the opening game against the Golden Knights, the Titans rolled to the sweep in the last match by collecting eight blocks, including six by Mike Semrad (Sr. - Waukesha). Andrew Sederberg (Sr. - Racine) added 15 assists, three service aces and five digs.
In the round of 16 to open play on Sunday, UW-Oshkosh faced a tall and athletic Virginia Tech University squad that entered the tournament ranked seventh in the nation. Led by Thomas and Nathan Sederberg, who collectively hit .769, the Titans won 25-17, 25-23. Each had 10 kills, led by Thomas who had 10 kills in 11 errorless attempts. James Bradley (So. - Racine) had four service aces and Andrew Sederberg dished out 31 assists as the Titans hit .491 as a team.
In the quarterfinals UW-Oshkosh faced 12th ranked University of Colorado and won 25-20, 25-23 behind 11 kills by Thomas on 16 attempts. Serving was the key in the match as the Titans had more service aces than errors for the first time this season. Nathan Sederberg chipped in six kills and three service aces and Aaron Wayne (So. - Waukesha) had for digs. Lewin added four blocks and Andrew Sederberg ran the offense with 28 assists.
The semifinals featured fellow Wisconsin Volleyball Conference foe UW-Whitewater. The Warhawks turned heads throughout the tournament as they entered the weekend unranked, but breezed to the final four and were looking for the upset against UW-Oshkosh.
After winning the first game 25-20, the Titans survived a third, two-point second game-win in a row by squeaking out a 28-26 win on a net call on the Warhawks. Wayne recorded seven digs in the match and Semrad chipped in six blocks and six kills.
The finals pitted UW-Oshkosh against third ranked WVC member Lakeland College. The Titans, who knocked the Muskies out of last year's tournament in the quarterfinals prevailed 25-22, 25-15. After a tight first game, UW-Oshkosh went up 7-1 and 13-2 in the second game to coast to the victory.
Nathan Sederberg had a team high nine kills and Bradley and Thomas added six kills each. Andrew Sederberg provided 27 assists as the team hit .367 in the match. The Titans captured the tournament for the first time since 1997 after finishing fifth in 2003 and 2004 and second last year.
"This is a very encouraging start to our tournament season," said head coach Brian Schaefer. "We faced some of the best in the country and we played well at times. As always we let teams stick around before squeaking out the tight games but this weekend it did not come back to hurt us."
For the tournament Thomas led the team with 44 kills followed closely by Nathan Sederberg with 38 putdowns. Wayne topped the team with 21 digs and Semrad finished with 31 kills and 20 blocks. Andrew Sederberg dished out163 assists and 10 service aces and Bradley chipped in 29 kills. Brandon Kirkland (Sr. - Racine) came off the bench to put away eight service aces.
"We were a very tired bunch in the championship match but with the help of Phil Brace (Sr. - Madison), Jordan Jung (Sr - Muskego), Dave Pautz (Sr - New Berlin) and Nathan Malewiski (Jr. - New Franken) cheering from the bench and motivating factors (ice cream and cheeseburgers) we picked up our energy level. Lakeland College is a strong team and this win should give us a lot of confidence as we continue through our season."
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