AMES, Iowa (GreenBayPhoenix.com)
- Freshman Kara Lindstedt (Shoreview, Minn.) and
junior Abbey Gitter (Hortonville,
Wis.) combined for 35 kills Sunday afternoon, leading Green Bay (2-5) to a
come-from-behind, thrilling five-set victory over South Dakota State (3-3) in
non-conference volleyball action, winning 27-25, 20-25, 14-25, 25-16, 15-12) in
Ames, Iowa.
After forcing the deciding fifth set with a
dominating fourth set victory, Green Bay fell behind 10-7 in the fifth before
taking its second timeout. The Phoenix then scored eight of the final 10 points
to claim its second-straight win.
Lindstedt completed the best match of her young
career with four of her career-high 18 kills in the fifth. Her team had 12
kills and just two errors in the fifth set alone, finishing its top offensive
outing of the season in style. The Phoenix hit a season-best .224 for the match,
including over .300 in each of its set victories.
"We played really well in sets one, four and five
- our best volleyball of the season," said head coach Debbie Kirch. "Our offense was really clicking. We still need to
work on composure throughout the entire match, but I am really proud of the way
we played after being down two games to one and 10-7 in game five. It is a good
match to build on. I felt we played our most aggressive volleyball at the end
of game five."
Green Bay escaped with victory in set one after
watching South Dakota State rally from 24-19 to tie the score. The Phoenix was
able to close out a strong offensive set with a kill by Kelly Mischler (Kaukauna, Wis.) and a combined block from Whitney Schott (Roscoe, Ill.) and Alison Bohnen (St. Germain, Wis.). Schott
had 14 assists in the set as Green Bay recorded 18 kills and just two errors for
a .314 hitting percentage.
After combining for 15 attack errors to drop sets
two and three, Green Bay rallied with its best offensive set of the season to
dominate the fourth set, 25-16. The Phoenix fell behind 4-1, but used six kills
from Gitter to notch a .393 hitting percentage (14 kills, three errors) and
force the deciding fifth set.
Gitter tallied a season-best 17 kills while fellow
junior Carlie Willison (Greenfield,
Wis.) gave Green Bay a trio of hitters with double-digit kills, adding 10.
Schott dished out a season-high 49 assists for the Phoenix and added eight
digs.
Defensively, junior Karli Koralewski (Muskego, Wis.) had 21 digs in the match while Lindstedt
and Willison added 14 and 11 respectively. Mischler had four blocks as the
Phoenix totaled 9.0 blocks.
Green Bay will return to Iowa next weekend to
play four contests in Des Moines at the second Drake Invite. The Phoenix will
face Stephen F. Austin and Drake on Friday before taking on Idaho State and
South Dakota on Saturday.
Green Bay def. South
Dakota State 27-25, 20-25, 14-25, 25-16, 15-12
Green Bay (2-5)
(Kills-aces-blocks)
LINDSTEDT, Kara 18-1-2; GITTER, Abbey 17-1-2; WILLISON, Carlie 10-0-2;
MISCHLER, Kelly 8-0-4; ANDERSON, Monica 3-0-0; SCHOTT, Whitney 2-1-2; BOHNEN,
Alison 1-0-3; Totals 59-3-9.0. (Assists) - SCHOTT, Whitney 49. (Dig leaders) - KORALEWSKI,
Karli 21; LINDSTEDT, Kara 14; WILLISON, Carlie 11; SCHOTT, Whitney 8
South Dakota State (3-3)
(Kills-aces-blocks)
Ellyce Youngren 17-3-2; Kaitlin Klingemann 12-0-3; Kelli Fiegen 9-0-6; Kelsey
Hansen 7-0-4; Ketty Cornemann 5-0-0; Thyele Rechatiko 3-1-0; Ashley Kathol
2-2-0; Lexi Fowler 2-0-2; Kelly Herrmann 1-0-0; Totals 58-6-9.0. (Assists) - Lexi
Fowler 22; Thyele Rechatiko 11. (Dig leaders) - Shay Birath 24; Ellyce Youngren
13; Emily Palmer 10; Kelly Herrmann 9
