UWO Holds On Over #2 Lakeland (3-24-06)
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (25-0/11-0 WVC) men's volleyball team captured the Wisconsin Volleyball Conference regular season title with a thrilling 30-26, 30-26, 23-30, 24-30, 15-13 victory over Lakeland College in a match held on Thursday (March 23) in Sheboygan. The Titans entered the match as the #1 ranked team in the NIRSA Division I and the Muskies held the #2 slot.
UW-Oshkosh started off strong as they collected 18 kills in the first game and added 16 kills in the second game to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Jeff Thomas (Sr. - Madison) had 11 kills on 20 errorless attempts to lead the Titans in the first two stanzas and the team scooped up 23 digs, including 15 in the second game.
Game three and four was all Lakeland College as tough serving and scrappy defense helped the Muskies knot the match at two games each. The Titans offense cooled in the two losses as they hit a combined .075 and committed nine receiving errors.
Lakeland College raced out to a 5-2 lead and held an 8-6 advantage at the side change before UW-Oshkosh battled back in game five. After another point to give the Muskies a 9-6 cushion, Mike Semrad (Sr. - Waukesha) had two kills to inch the Titans to within 9-8. After trading sideouts, Thomas took over the match by slamming down four consecutive kills, one being on an assist by Semrad for a 12-11 lead.
Tied at 13-13, Semrad put down a kill to give the Titans match point opportunity. After Phil Brace (Sr. - Madison) fired a serve over the net, Nathan Malewiski (Jr. - New Franken) tallied a dig that Andrew Sederberg (Sr. - Racine) dished out to James Bradley (So. - Racine) for the victory.
"We lived and died with Jeff Thomas tonight," said head coach Brian Schaefer. "He took over the match when it was crunch time and led us to the victory."
Thomas had a match high 22 kills and did not commit a hitting error in the three games that the Titans won. Semrad added 13 kills and six blocks and Danny Hessling (Fr. - Greenfield) put down nine kills. Nathan Sederberg, (So. - Racine) nursing a knee injury tallied three service aces and nine digs.
Aaron Wayne (So. - Waukesha) had 11 digs and Andrew Sederberg dished out a match high 60 assists and added seven digs. Malewiski finished the night with seven kills and seven digs. As a team the Titans scooped up 44 digs and had 68 kills, including 11 kills in the decisive fifth game.
"I give Lakeland College a lot of credit tonight," added Schaefer. "They served and passed very well and I think their setter (Mike Smolinski) played one of the best matches of his career."
"Our team really persevered tonight and our supporting cast played really well. It is important for our team to know that even if we are not at full strength or if somebody is struggling we can pull out the tough matches."
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