The Pioneer volleyball team was not able to stop eighth-ranked UW-Oshkosh on Sept. 19.

The Titans won on their home court 30-14, 35-33, 30-22.

The office of Sports Information said the final game against the Pioneers marked the 42nd straight win for the Titans, the sixth longest streak in NCAA Division III history.

Platteville had seven total team blocks, while Oshkosh had 12.5 as a team.

Sophomore middle blocker Lisa Bell had nine kills, a dig and four block assists while junior outside hitter Rachel Chapman also had nine kills, along with nine digs and two block assists.
UW-O was led by senior middle blocker Leah Rosenbaum, who scored 17 kills and four solo blocks.

The Titans racked up 67 digs compared to the Pioneers’ 46, and also had 10 aces to the Pioneers’ three.

“Our conference opener against Oshkosh didn’t go as well as we had hoped or had prepared for,” Rochelle Ripp, a junior on the team, said. “Oshkosh came out strong and capitalized when they saw the opportunity.”

“Overall, we did not play to our potential,” Bell said. “Everyone could have played better, and it was definitely not anybody’s best game, but we learned from it.”

The Pioneers were back in action at home on Sept. 21, where they were able to knock off the feisty Wartburg College Knights, three games to one.

“We fixed some of the little things and came out ready to defend our home court this past Friday against Wartburg,” Ripp said. “It was fun to get out in front of the home crowd. We were able to set the tone a good majority of the match to dictate the outcome.”

The Pioneer freshmen got involved, with their outside hitters Melissa Hillenbrand and Emily Walker combining for 31 total kills.

Bell also stayed involved with 18 kills, and Chapman added 16 of her own.
Platteville as a team had 72 kills, while Wartburg had 51.

The Pioneers also had 81 digs as a team, with Ripp leading the team with 20. Chapman also continued to fill up the stat sheet with 18 digs and Walker also had 11.

Senior Kelly Laschinger helped out with 62 assists.

Wartburg was down 19-9 in the first game, before coming back to win 30-28. Game two belonged to the Pioneers, who overcame a deficit of 7-0 and took it with a 30-26 victory.
UW-P won the last two games 30-26 and 30-25.

Platteville’s record now stands at 12-5 on the year, while the Knight’s fell to 5-7.
“So far, this season has been a learning process,” Ripp said. “We learn something new every day and apply it next time we step on the court.”

“We are a young team and we have only a couple players on the court with experience on this team, so we need to really work hard,” Bell said. “We have to push ourselves and each other, and nobody is going to do it for us.”

The Pioneers will be at home at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, for the Impact Sports/Nike Invitational tournament.