UW-Oshkosh Finishes Third in the Nation at the NCVF National Championship (4-8-13)
The UW-Oshkosh men's volleyball team concluded another season with a tough third place finish at the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation National Championship held Thursday-Saturday (April 4-6) in Dallas, Texas. The Titans have now placed third or better seven times in the national championships since 2005, including claiming the top prize in 2006, 2007 and 2011.
UW-Oshkosh entered the 48-team tournament as the second seed and won its opening five matches without dropping a set. The Titans started off slow in its opening match against the University of Central Florida finding itself down 19-12 before coming back to win 26-24. Bill Meidenbauer (Sr. - Wauwatosa) gave UW-Oshkosh life by slamming down seven kills in the set. After the comeback the Titans had little trouble claiming the match with a 25-18 victory in set two.
UW-Oshkosh was led by Meidenbauer who finished with 10 kills on 15 attempts. Dan Ruys (Gr. - Kimberly) had four blocks, Travis Hudson (Fr. - Wauwatosa) had 16 assists and Shane Heyrman (So. - Green Bay) totaled three blocks.
In its second match of its initial pool the Titans again had to overcome a slow start in set one before prevailing over the University of Oregon, 26-24, 25-12. In a balanced attack Nick Mueller (Sr. - Kenosha) had five kills to lead the Titans. Ruys and Heyrman each had four kills and Bob Hall (Sr. - Appleton) scooped up three digs. Ruys led the team with four blocks, Heyrman and Meidenbauer added three and Jake Ahnert (So. - Burlington) finished with two as the team finished with 7.5 total blocks in the match. Hudson dished out 11 assists and had three service aces in the victory.
UW-Oshkosh defeated the #23 University of Southern California 25-12, 25-23 to finish out its first pool in first place. The Titans slammed the Trojans in the first set by hitting .750 behind the four kills of Meidenbauer. UW-Oshkosh also added six blocks in the first stanza and three service aces. Set two was led by the outside hitters as Meidenbauer and Mueller combined for nine kills.
On Friday the Titans advanced to the Gold Bracket for the tenth time in the last eleven years (guaranteed top nine finish) by beating #16 James Madison University 25-20, 25-13 and #17 UC-Irvine 25-21, 26-24. Ruys led the Titans in the first match with seven kills and five blocks and Ahnert added six kills. Meidenbauer collected five kills, five digs and four service aces and Hall had five digs.
In its second match against the Anteaters the Titans were paced with 10 kills each by Mueller and Meidenbauer. Ahnert, Heyrman and Ruys each had three blocks and Hudson dished out 22 assists.
In single elimination action on Saturday UW-Oshkosh survived losing its first set of the tournament by coming back and beating #14 Sacramento State University, 22-25, 25-17, 15-11. After splitting the first two sets the Titans trailed 10-8 before ended the match on a 7-1 run. The Titans relied on four team blocks and two service aces by Meidenbauer in the deciding set as UW-Oshkosh only had four kills.
Mueller led the team with 13 kills and added two service aces. Ruys had six blocks, Meidenbauer tallied three service aces, Ahnert had five kills and four blocks and Heyrman had five blocks, including two solo stuffs.
The Titans reached the semifinals by avenging an earlier season loss to the #6 University of Arizona by sweeping the Wildcats 25-23, 25-22 in one of the most intense games of the tournament. Meidenbauer led the Titans with nine kills and Hudson ran the offense with 20 assists.
In the semifinals against #6 UC-Santa Barbara the first set was close throughout until a six point run gave the Gauchos a 22-16 lead. The Titans fell 25-17. The second set went back and forth with neither team having more than a two point lead before UW-Oshkosh faltered 26-24.
Hudson dished out 18 assists and had four digs and four blocks. Meidenbauer had four blocks, including three solo blocks and added six kills. Mueller led the team with seven kills and Heyrman had five kills and two blocks. Ruys finished with three blocks.
Jordan Mattingly (Sr. - Kaukauna), Meidenbauer, Mueller and Ruys ended their careers in a Titans uniform with a 55-4 overall record on the season. The Titans finished the season 19-3 against teams ranked in the top twenty fine in the nation.
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