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Advance-Titan
Morgan Van Lanen - Sports Editor Mike Johrendt - Assistant Sports Editor
March 30, 2017
Men’s volleyball continues its winning fashion
COURTESY OF FRAN WITT
ABOVE: Freshman Lesley Kutnink and sophomore Ashley Polena celebrate winning a match while in South Carolina. BELOW: Junior Hannah Nauth serves the ball. The Titans went 1-4 while on a spring break trip in Hilton Head Island.
Tennis travels to Hilton Head by Calvin Skalet skalec11@uwosh.edu
The UW Oshkosh women’s tennis team concluded its five-match spring break trip in Hilton Head Island, S. C. with its lone victory over Hollins University ( Va. ) . The Titans were defeated by Union College ( N . Y . ) , University of St. Thomas ( Minn. ) , The College of Wooster ( Ohio) and St. Olaf College ( Minn. ) last week. The UWO women received a pair of defeats from Union College and the University of St. Thomas on Monday. Union College defeated the Titans 7 -2 , and the University of St. Thomas shutout UW Oshkosh 9 -0. Freshman Lesley Kutnink defeated Union College’s Paige Webster with a score of 6-7 ( 5 -7 ) , 7 -5 , ( 1 0-5 ) . Freshman Samantha Koppa also contributed for the Titans as she defeated Alex Greenberg, 6-0, 6-0. UWO lost a pair of matches to the College of Wooster and St. Olaf College on Tuesday in Hilton Head by a score of 7 -2 . Koppa earned three of the four team points for the Titans by winning both of her singles contests and the N o. 2 doubles match with Freshman Alyssa Leffler against St. Olaf College ( 4 -3 ) . Koppa defeated Elizabeth Brewington, 6-3 , 6-2 , before beating St. Olaf College’s Morgan Steffen by a score of 6-0, 6-3 . Koppa and Leffler each won their doubles matches by an 8 -5 score over St. Olaf College’s Kellis Brandt and Ella Hagopian. Leffler scored UWO’s last team point against Wooster ( 5 -4 ) with her 6-4 , 6-0 victory over Rachel Mole at N o. 2 singles. The Titans closed the fivematch trip to South Carolina with a convincing 9 -0 win
over Hollins University ( Va. ) on Thursday. UWO won six singles contests against its first-time opponent in straight sets while capturing 2 4 of the 3 4 games in doubles play. Three Titans won their singles contest by 6-0, 6-0 scores, including Leffler, who defeated Olivia Dannon in the second flight. Other UWO players who won were Koppa over Kaitlyn Woodruff in the fifth flight and freshman Monica Micoliczyk over Kandyce Mayes in the six th. Micoliczyk said she took a different approach to her last game of the trip. “I was able to regain some lost confidence and really focus on playing each point as it comes and not focus on the outcome of our matches as a whole,” Micolinczyk said. Junior Bailey Sagen won her match versus Jhovanna Salmeron at N o. 1 singles with a score of 6-0, 6-1 . UWO Head Coach Robert Henshaw said Sagen, the Titans’ N o. 1 competitor, has an impressive performance. “In her last match, she played with confidence and won the big points,” Henshaw said. “Bailey is a unique player because, unlike many of her opponents, she has all the shots in the game. Once she begins to understand the right time to use her creativity, she will get winning results. ” Kutnink, a freshman, defeated Kateri Johnson 6-0, 6-1 at N o. 4 singles. The Titans also received a 6-4 , 6-3 victory from Hannah Peters over Amelia Verkerk at the N o. 3 singles. Kutnink said the team is focused on getting better one match at a time. “As a team I think our main goal is to win matches against schools with similar ability,” Kutnink said. “We lose matches by losing tie
breakers or losing 6-8 in doubles which can make a huge impact on our team’s overall score. Each match we play we strive to get better, and with time, our lineup will get more ex perience and develop more strategies to win. ” In the doubles matches, UWO earned a pair of victories as Peters and Sagen defeated Johnson and Salmeron in the first flight while Koppa and Leffler ousted Verkerk and Sarah Jordan Snoddy in the second. Recapping on the weekend, Henshaw said while his team didn’t get the results they wanted, they are showing signs of improvement. “Although our team results did not reflect wins, we are getting better,” Henshaw said. “We beat up on the teams when we know we’re better. N ow we need to play with the same confidence when we compete against teams that are of similar
ability to us. ” Henshaw said obtaining a winning record for the rest of the season is a realistic goal for the future. “We have three dual meets left in the spring season,” Henshaw said. “Our goal is to have a winning record from here on out so that we can finish with a . 5 00 record or better for the 2 01 6-2 01 7 season. ” Micoliczyk said the team has some things to work on in practice. “As a team, we have decided to really work on our mental toughness within points,” Micoliczyk said. “Instead of ex pressing negative emotions we have made a goal to think clearly in between points and only allow positive thoughts. ” UWO has a break until its nex t game when it matches up with Iowa’s Coe College and Wartburg College on April 1 5 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
by Jordan Fremstad fremsj17@uwosh.edu The UW Oshkosh men’s club volleyball team proved it is the team to beat in 2 01 7 , winning the Las Vegas open and ex tending its winning streak to 1 4 matches. The Titans took down seven opponents: Salt Lake City Community College, Colorado Mesa University, UC-Davis, University of Arizona II, Arizona State University, San Diego State University and University of Arizona on March 1 7 and 1 8 . Head coach Brian Schaefer said the tournament was used as a model of what needs improvement heading into the final stretches of the season. “Coming into the tournament, we wanted to use these matches as a barometer as where we are at as a team offensively and defensively,” Schaefer said. Schaefer said the team took some hits with the loss of some key pieces, but found a way to get it done. “We entered the tournament, due to graduation and injuries, with only two starters returning from last year and we grinded out a championship,” Schaefer said. Sophomore Devin Hudson led the team with six kills against Colorado Mesa. Sophomore Tony D’Acquisto added five himself. Senior Peter N ordel and graduate student Brandon Schmidt added four put-aways each. N ordel shined in the team’s first match, hitting all five of his kill attempts, along with four blocks. Senior Travis Hudson provided 1 8 assists and six blocks. Schmidt and Devin Hudson each supplied four kills. The Titans dished out an impressive 1 8 block assists in the match. N ordel is a student who transferred to UWO from California who was not aware of the success of this program. “I came here after a couple of years at a junior college and I didn’t even know they won the national championship,” N ordel said. The Torrance, California native said the choice of coming to Wisconsin was in part because of the engineering program offered at UWO. “I am in electrical engineering and the program here is not like a lot of other programs out there,” N ordel said. “It is a lot more hands-on. ” The Titans knocked off one of the best Division III teams, N o. 1 ranked University of Arizona, 2 6-2 4 , 2 5 -1 9 . The Hudson brothers, N ordel and Schmidt helped with five blocks each and senior Sammy Pedersen had four of the Titans’ 2 6 total kills in the match. Travis was named the tournament’s most valuable player to
add to an all-tournament team honor he received in 2 01 6. Schmidt and sophomore Jake Martin also received all-tournament team honors. Travis said the fact that this team has only lost one match this season with all the new players on the team is remarkable. “We have a bunch of new faces so to be able to carry a 2 6-1 record is very good going into our last few weeks here,” Travis said. Senior Michael Wamboldt said winning the tournament was huge, but the team still needs to reach a higher energy level to reach the program’s goal. “The guys played very well,” Wamboldt said. “Even when we were down we found ourselves and fought back to get the victory. I would like to see our energy get even more hyped than it has been. I am all about keeping the energy high in the gym. ” Oshkosh dominated Marquette University II in straight sets, 2 5 -1 7 , 2 5 -1 5 , 2 5 -1 9 in Wisconsin Volleyball Conference play on Friday in Milwaukee. N ordel led the Titans with eight kills to go along with three blocks. Martin had ten digs and Pedersen mustered up eight digs and four kills. Travis also had six kills and nine assists. The Titans did not stop there. UWO took out UW-River Falls in sweeping fashion, 2 5 -1 8 , 2 5 -1 6, 2 5 -1 5 to remain on top of the WVC on Saturday in Oshkosh. The Titans are in a position to win the club’s fourth-straight national championship. The Titans are currently tied with the University of Arizona with three straight championships and tied with the University of California-Berkley with six total. Keep in mind the both of those schools have enrollments ex ceeding 4 0,000 students and Oshkosh has around 1 3 ,000. Schaefer said it has been quite the ride with what the program has accomplished since 2 002 . “I am not a very arrogant person, but we are pretty astonished of what we have done,” Schaefer said. “We are a dynasty in terms of consistency, that’s more of the pride for us. Every single year we have guys that step up into bigger roles than they had the year before. ” Travis said the team doesn’t worry about the whole dynasty title as much as people with an outside perspective. “For us, it’s just another day and another year,” Hudson said. “Obviously winning the national championship is a successful year, but even if you don’t win it, you can still be successful as long you go out there and give it your all. ”
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