GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Junior Abbey
Gitter (Hortonville, Wis.) tallied a
team-high 14 kills and Green Bay (7-13, 3-4 HL) pulled out three close sets in
a 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-23) sweep over visiting Wright State (7-12, 2-5 HL)
Saturday afternoon in Horizon League volleyball action. All three sets were
tied at 23 before the Phoenix closed out each.
"The
UIC match (on Wednesday), even though we lost, was a big match for us because
we were down and had to fight back," said head coach Debbie Kirch. "We felt like we were starting to see some fight, and
I think that helped us prepare for tonight. We were down in every set today,
but we never lost that composure which I was really impressed with because we
do have a lot of youth on the court. I think they are really starting to gain
their confidence, and it was a big step that we could come from behind to win
those sets."
The
Phoenix took a back-and-forth opening set, breaking a 23-23 tie with a kill
from Gitter and a block from Mischler and Gitter. Green Bay held an early 16-12
lead in the set after back-to-back kills from Gitter, and the junior right side
hitter finished set one with six kills.
Green
Bay fell behind on three occasions in set two, but was able to respond each
time. With the game tied at 19, the teams traded points until 23-23, when
another Gitter kill gave the Phoenix its first lead of the set. Just like the
first set, Gitter and Mischler teamed up for a block to end the set and give
Green Bay a 2-0 lead heading to intermission.
Through
the first two sets, Gitter had tallied 11 of Green Bay's 30 kills while
freshman Kara Lindstedt's (Shoreview,
Minn.) five in set two gave her seven.
"I
was frustrated early in the match because Abbey was the only one swinging
aggressively," said Kirch. "You could tell the defense was starting to key in
on her, but to her credit she stuck to her game plan. She has shown a lot of
maturity the last couple of matches, and she proved tonight she is going to
take what is given to her and get something out of it."
With
the third set tied at 16-16, junior Kelly
Mischler (Kaukauna, Wis.) put down
back-to-back kills to spark a 5-1 run that gave the Phoenix a 21-17 lead. Wright
State rallied from there, tying the score at 23 for the third-straight set. Again
the Phoenix scored twice to win it, putting the match away on a kill from
freshman Lyndsay Zabkowicz (Oak Creek, Wis.).
Senior
Whitney Schott (Roscoe, Ill.) returned after missing Wednesday's game due
to injury and led the offense to a .194 hitting percentage. Schott assisted on
41 of Green Bay's 46 kills.
"Games
when you go four and five (sets) are difficult and high-strung because you feel
like you can't mess up, but we have to keep playing our way," said Schott. "Those
previous matches taught us how to fight, and I think tonight we were down in
every single game, and we were able to fight back."
Sophomore
libero Brittany Groth (Oak Creek, Wis.) again led the Phoenix defense, totaling a
team-high 21 digs. Lindstedt added 15 digs for Green Bay, who held the Raiders
to a .159 hitting percentage. Lindstedt and sophomore Carmen Leitermann (Schofield, Wis.) each added eight kills for the
hosts.
Green
Bay welcomes Butler to the Kress Center on Sunday afternoon, hosting the
Bulldogs at 2 p.m.
Green Bay def. Wright State 25-23, 25-23, 25-23
Wright State (7-12, 2-5 HL) (Kills-aces-blocks)
SANDIFER, Shaunda 11-0-2; SPLINTER,
Heidi 11-2-0; McAULEY, Alaina 7-2-2; GODINA, Katherine 6-1-1; HEYMAN, Ashley
1-0-1; DOLSON, Molly 1-0-0; LUCCO, Ashleigh 0-1-0; Totals 37-6-3.0. (Assists) -
DOLSON, Molly 35. (Dig leaders) - SPLINTER, Heidi 13; WOODS, Jessica 13
Green Bay (7-13, 3-4 HL) (Kills-aces-blocks)
GITTER, Abbey 14-0-2; LINDSTEDT, Kara
8-0-0; LEITERMANN, Carmen 8-1-1; MISCHLER, Kelly 7-0-4; ANDERSON, Monica 6-0-1;
ZABKOWICZ, Lyndsay 3-0-1; SCHOTT, Whitney 0-1-1; GROTH, Brittany 0-1-0; Totals
46-3-6.0. (Assists) - SCHOTT, Whitney 41. (Dig leaders) - GROTH, Brittany 21;
LINDSTEDT, Kara 15; MARUNOWSKI, Sabrina 8
