Oshkosh II Finishes as Runner-Up at Nationals (4-16-06)
The UW-Oshkosh II men's team captured runner-up honors at the NIRSA Division III national championship held Thursday-Saturday (April 13-15, 2006) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Last season the team finished third at the same event.
The Titans, seeded second in the tournament breezed through the opening pool by defeating St. John's University (Minn.) 25-21, 25-22, Miami University II (Ohio) 25-20, 2-19 and Salt Lake Community College (Utah) 25-19, 25-17.
Highlighting Thursday's performances against the Johnnies were Nathan Malewiski (Jr. - New Franken) who had nine kills on 12 errorless attempts and Phil Brace (Sr. - Madison) who had seven kills on nine errorless attempts. Brandon Kirkland (Sr. - Racine) led the offense with 27 assists. The Titans overcame 16 service errors by slamming down 28 kills on a .466 hitting percentage.
Against the RedHawks Malewiski and Chris Schinner (Fr. - Homestead) had four kills and Brace, Dave Pautz (Sr. - New Berlin) and Brandon Weimann (Sr. - Racine) each had three kills in a balanced attack. Jordan Jung (Sr. - Muskego) tallied seven digs and Kirkland dished out 15 assists.
In the final match of the day against the Bruins Brace led the team with seven kills on 10 attempts and Pautz had six kills on six attempts. Mike Callaway (So. - Waukesha) came off the bench to contribute the team's lone two service aces and Jung had five digs. Kirkland again led the offense with 25 assists.
In Friday's power pool UW-Oshkosh defeated fellow Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association member Michigan State University II 25-16, 25-19 and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo II 25-20, 17-25, 15-10.
Against the Spartans the middle blocking duo of Malewiski and Weimann combined for 14 kills on 18 attempts with only one error. Schinner added six kills and Pautz and Brian Sigrist (Sr. - West Allis) each had five digs. UW-Oshkosh hit .416 in the match on 26 kills as Kirkland had 23 helpers in the match.
Against the Mustangs Schinner led the team with 10 kills on 13 errorless attempts, Pautz had seven kills and Brace had six kills. Jung tallied eight digs and Pautz added six digs and four blocks. Malewiski had three blocks, including three solo stuffs and Weimann added three blocks as the team had 10.5 in the match. Kirkland added 29 assists and added four digs.
UW-Oshkosh had seven kills on 15 attempts for a .400 hitting percentage and had five blocks in the deciding third game to pull out the victory.
In a rematch of last year's semifinal match, UW-Oshkosh met up with the University of Arizona II in the single elimination playoffs on Saturday. Behind solid defensive play and aggressive serving the Titans prevailed 25-18, 25-20 over the number one seeded Wildcats.
Despite only having one service ace in the match, the Titans only had two service errors to keep pressure on the University of Arizona II. After the quick victory in game one the Titans found themselves down 7-1 and 12-5 before battling back.
After a 3-0 mini-run by the Titans to make it 12-8, the Wildcats would follow with a two-point outburst to take a 14-8 advantage. From there UW-Oshkosh closed the game on a 17-6 run to take the match. Of the 17 points by the Titans during the skein, 11 were kills and four were hitting errors by the Wildcats.
UW-Oshkosh only hit .272 in the match on 28 kills but helped their cause by scooping up a tournament team high 23 digs in the match, including 15 in the second game. Jung finished the match with seven digs and Kirkland added five digs and Sigrist added four.
Malewiski had a team high eight kills, Schinner added six kills and Pautz finished with five putdowns. "We did the necessary things to pull out the victory that are not on the stat sheet," said head coach Brian Schaefer. "We had coverage digs, forced free balls back onto our side and communicated so well. We won the match on pure emotion."
In the national finals UW-Oshkosh matched up with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo II for the second time in the tournament. The Titans could not match their intensity in the semifinals and lost in two tight games 25-23, 27-25.
After having 10.5 blocks in the first match-up against the Mustangs, the Titans could only muster up three stuffs. The Titans were also hurt by missing eight serves with only one service ace.
After losing the first game on a hitting error the Titans were up 21-18 and 23-21 before the Mustangs fought back. After going ahead 24-23, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo II served for match point before Kirkland had a kill to tie the game 24-24. After another sideout by the Mustangs, UW-Oshkosh got a kill by Schinner to even the match at 25-25.
From there the Titans lost the serve and then could not side out and lost another close game. "Things just did not go our way during the match," said head coach Brian Schaefer. "We had a great tournament but could not close out this match which was a disappointment for the guys on the team. They really wanted this and worked hard for it during the season but the season was hardly a disappointment."
UW-Oshkosh was led by Malewiski who had eight kills on 11 attempts and Pautz, Weimann and Brace each had six kills. Pautz added a team high eight digs and added two solo blocks and Kirkland dished out 29 assists.
For their efforts during the season and tournament Kirkland, Malewiski and Pautz were all named NIRSA Division III All-American. The award was the second for Malewiski and the first for Kirkland and Pautz.
Tournament Results
OSHKOSH II
Thursday April 13
#8 St. John's University - Won 25-22, 25-22
#11 Miami University (Ohio) "B" - Won 25-20, 25-19
#5 Salt Lake Community College - Won 25-19, 25-17
Friday April 14
#7 Michigan State "B" - Won 25-15, 25-19
#4 Cal Poly "B" - Won 25-20, 17-25, 15-10
Saturday April 15
#1 University of Arizona - Won 25-18, 25-20
#4 Cal Poly "B" - Lost 23-25, 25-27
<< Back to 2006 News
|
|
|
|
News Archives
|
|
|
|
 |
|
