OSHKOSH, WIS. – Fueled by a victory over No. 7-ranked UW-Oshkosh, Wartburg College won the Titan Invitational tournament title Sept. 17-18.
Wartburg, moving to 10-5, opened the two-day event with back-to-back three-game sweeps of St. Norbert College of De Pere, Wis., and Wisconsin Lutheran College of Milwaukee Friday. The Knights opened Saturday play against the host and top-10 ranked Titans and posted a four-game win. Head coach Jennifer Walker’s squad made it a 4-0 weekend by sweeping past Ripon College of Wisconsin to close the tournament.
“I think the biggest difference (from the loss to Cornell mid-week to winning this tournament) was ball control,” Walker said. “We played very steady, and our passes were on. It seemed like even when struggled, we didn’t allow any of our competition long runs. It was just a matter of re-grouping back into what we needed to do.”
The Orange and Black offense made their presence known all weekend. Wartburg had a sparkling .263 team attack percentage led by sophomore outside hitter Britlyn Sieck (Fayette) (45 kills - .318 attack percentage), junior middle hitter Kamille Van Natta (Readlyn) (37 kills - .337 attack percentage), and freshman right side hitter Maddie Forsyth (Charles City) (28 kills - .250 attack percentage).
“It was a big key to our success that the offense was consistent all weekend long,” Walker said.
Other top-notch numbers came from freshman outside hitter Kelly Niemann (Fredericksburg) (two solo blocks and five block assists), Forsyth and Sieck (eight service aces apiece), freshman Ramey Sieck (Fayette) (73 assists), and freshman libero Marissa Shinstine (Tripoli) (47 digs).
Wartburg returns to Iowa Conference action Wednesday, Sept. 22, when Loras College of Dubuque visits Levick Arena. First serve is 7:30 p.m.
Notes – Sieck and Van Natta were lauded by the coaches at the tournament with Sieck being named Most Valuable Player and Van Natta receiving all-tournament honors. ... Wednesday’s match against the Duhawks is Kids’ Night. The first 75 children ages 12 and under receive a free glow-in-the-dark volleyball upon entrance to the arena.
