UW-Oshkosh Captures Midwest Ten Conference Championship

[Note: The text below is a straight pick-up of a UW-Oshkosh press release. The link for the release is not yet available. Congrats on the championship.]

The UW-Oshkosh men’s volleyball team captured the Midwest Ten Conference championship without losing a set for its sixth championship in the last eight years on Saturday (March 6) in Sheboygan.

UW-Oshkosh (25-2), ranked fourth in the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation, entered the single elimination play as the number two seed after finishing behind Lakeland College in the regular season standings. The runner-up finish snapped the Titans seven-year string of winning the regular season title.

In championship play UW-Oshkosh beat UW-Milwaukee 25-17, 25-18 in the quarterfinals, the University of Notre Dame 25-14, 25-23 in the semifinals and Lakeland College 25-21, 25-23 in the championship.

In its win over UW-Milwaukee, Bill Meidenbauer (So. – Waukesha) led the team with 10 kills and two blocks. Nate Sederberg (Sr. – Racine) provided 26 assists and three digs, Aaron Wayne (Sr. – New Berlin) scooped up seven digs and Danny Hessling (Sr. – Greenfield) added seven kills and two blocks.

Zach Johnson (Fr. – Mequon) snapped off three service aces, all in the second set and Tyler Boddy (Jr. – New Ulm, Minn.) amassed five kills, two service aces, three digs and two service aces.

In the win over the Irish, UW-Oshkosh has 13 kills in 14 attempts to start the match with the easy win in the first frame. In the second set, things turned the other way as the Titans fell behind 22-18 after a flurry of hitting errors.

UW-Oshkosh, behind solo blocks by Dan Ruys (Jr. – Kimberly) and Meidenbauer inched back to 23-23. The Titans finished the match with a 7-1 scoring run to head to the finals.

Meidenbauer led the Titans with nine kills, Boddy added five kills and Wayne six digs. Sederberg dished out 21 assists and Mike Cotter (Sr. – Appleton) finished with five kills.

UW-Oshkosh improved to 4-1 on the season against Lakeland College after winning the first set and nearly blowing a 22-18 lead in the second frame. Trailing by four points, the Muskies got a side-out and then three straight points to tie the score at 22-22.

From there UW-Oshkosh took a 23-22 lead, Lakeland College tied the score again at 23-23 and then the Titans earned match point at 24-23 on a kill by Hessling. Ruys and Boddy ended the contest with a block.

Meidenbauer led the Titans for the fourth straight match with nine kills. Boddy slammed down eight kills, Harris Jorgenson (Fr. – Burlington) tallied six kills and Ruys five. Hessling provided three blocks and Sederberg ran the offense with 29 assists and four digs.

UW-Oshkosh reached the second seed by defeating UW-Milwaukee 25-21, 25-21 and Iowa State University 25-19, 25-18 earlier in the day. Cotter led the Titans with six kills against the Panthers and Hessling had six kills against the Cyclones.