The UW-Oshkosh women’s volleyball team survived an action packed match against Carthage College to win its first NCAA Division III regional championship since the 1996 season on Saturday (Nov. 15) in Oshkosh.

UW-Oshkosh (40-2) won the see-saw battle, 25-23, 25-19, 16-25, 20-25, 15-10, and advances to play Juniata College (34-4) on Thursday (Nov. 20) in the quarterfinal round of the national championship in Bloomington, Ill. Carthage College (32-5) finishes its season in its fifth NCAA Division III postseason appearance.

The Titans, who handed the Lady Reds three of their losses this season, held leads of 12-8 and 20-16 before Carthage College stormed back in the first set. After a side out, Carthage College scored four straight points to go ahead 21-20. Trailing 22-21, UW-Oshkosh scored four of the last five points to pull out the victory.

Down 5-0 in the second set, UW-Oshkosh went on a 9-1 scoring run to take a 9-6 advantage. Ahead 12-8, the Titans held at least a four-point cushion to take a 2-0 lead in sets in the match.

Facing elimination, the Lady Reds responded in the third set by outhitting the Titans .276 to -.056 on a 13-6 advantage on kills. Carthage College relied on a big opening lead in set four to coast to the deciding fifth stanza.

UW-Oshkosh overwhelmed Carthage College in the fifth set by allowing only five kills to improve to 11-0 on the season in five-set matches. The Titans knocked down a .312 hitting percentage on eight kills to win its 19th consecutive match. Trailing 2-1, UW-Oshkosh went on a four-point scoring run to take a 5-2 advantage. Both teams traded points until the Titans took a four-point lead at 10-6. Ahead 11-8, UW-Oshkosh scored three straight points to earn its first match point opportunity at 14-8. The Titans gave up its only two-point run of the fifth set as the Lady Reds closed to within 14-10. The match ended on a miscue by the Lady Reds.

In a dreadful match statistically, Jacque Ray led the Titans with 13 kills and Katie Beining added 12 as UW-Oshkosh only hit .119. Christina Cahoon added 28 digs and Katelyn Vara had 44 assists, 11 digs and four blocks. Beining added 14 digs and four service aces and Andrea Smith had 13 digs.

Michelle Madeja led Carthage College with 10 kills and Jordan Burkholder added nine kills on a .500 hitting percentage, while pitching in nine blocks. Rachel Swoboda contributed eight blocks and seven kills and Drewann Pancratz had 24 assists. Sarah Carlino and Katie Lundgren scooped up 16 digs each.

UW-Oshkosh’s Beining led the seven-person all-tournament team by being named the most valuable player of the Oshkosh Regional. Joining Beining were UW-Oshkosh Cahoon and Vara, Carthage College’s Lundgren and Swoboda, Heidelberg College’s Emily Hurlburt and UW-Whitewater’s Melissa Zuleger.