IOWA CITY, Ia. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Green Bay (0-1) opened its 2010 volleyball season on Friday afternoon at the Hawkeye Challenge, falling to Southern Illinois (1-0) 3-0 (25-14, 25-9, 25-17) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The young Phoenix squad had five freshmen see action, and freshman Monica Anderson (Cottage Grove, Wis.) led the team with a game-high 10 kills.

"We were not ready to play and completely lost our composure," said Green Bay head coach Debbie Kirch. "SIU played aggressive offensively and was relentless on defense and we never took control. I am proud of the way that Monica Anderson responded in her first collegiate match."

After falling behind 15-8 early in the first set, Green Bay scored four-straight points capped by an Anderson kill to close to 15-12. The Phoenix trailed just 18-14 on a Carlie Willison (Greenfield, Wis.) kill before the Salukis pulled away for the win.

Anderson had four kills in game two and Green Bay was tied early 5-5, but Southern Illinois took advantage of seven Green Bay errors from there to take the set.

The Salukis closed out the match in the third set, 25-17, but not before Anderson led a Green Bay comeback and added three more kills. Anderson finished her first collegiate match with 10 kills and just three attack errors for a .318 hitting percentage.

Senior setter Whitney Schott (Roscoe, Ill.) had 17 assists and two service aces in the match while Willison added seven kills for the Phoenix.   

Alysia Mayes and Jennifer Berwanger had 10 kills apiece for the Salukis while setter Rachael Brown had 28 assists.

Green Bay will be back in action at the Hawkeye Challenge Saturday, facing Alabama at 4:30 p.m. To follow live stats to the game, click here.

Box Score
Southern Illinois def. Green Bay 25-14, 25-9, 25-17

Southern Illinois (1-0) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Mayes, Alysia 10-1-1; Berwanger, Jennifer 10-1-0; Clark, Sydney 8-0-1; Johnson, Alicia 5-3-3; Conner, Jasmine 4-0-7; Yeager, Bailey 0-1-0; Blumhorst, Lauren 0-3-0; Totals 37-9-8.0. (Assists) - Brown, Rachael 28. (Dig leaders) - Berwanger, Jennifer 13; Blumhorst, Lauren 6

Green Bay (0-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) - ANDERSON, Monica 10-0-1; WILLISON, Carlie 7-0-1; VAN ZEELAND, Leah 3-0-0; GITTER, Abbey 3-0-1; MISCHLER, Kelly 2-0-0; SCHOTT, Whitney 1-2-0; BOHNEN, Alison 0-1-2; KORALEWSKI, Karli 0-1-0; Totals 26-4-3.0. (Assists) - SCHOTT, Whitney 17. (Dig leaders) - MARUNOWSKI, Sabrina 5; WILLISON, Carlie 5