CHICAGO, Ill. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Using a run of nine-straight points off the serve of sophomore Sabrina Marunowski (Milwaukee, Wis.), visiting Green Bay dominated the fifth set 15-3 to finish off a rally from a 2-0 deficit and downed Loyola 3-2 (22-25, 24-26, 25-13, 25-22, 15-3) in Horizon League volleyball action Friday night. Green Bay improved to 2-2 in conference play.

"We got off to a slow start and Loyola really played well at the beginning of the match," said head coach Debbie Kirch. "They wanted it more early, and we were not fighting hard enough to win points. It is hard to fight back to win in that situation, and we have had trouble finishing those five-set matches, so to do that on the road makes me proud of my team. We took one set at a time and really dominated the last three sets."

Junior Carmen Leitermann (Schofield, Wis.) was tremendous throughout for Green Bay and finished with 20 kills, the most by a Phoenix player this season. The middle hitter had just two errors and hit .529 to lead the Phoenix and also added six blocks.

"Carmen was outstanding. They were committing to stopping her for a good portion of the match, but she was patient and still able to get kills," said Kirch. "When they were playing her one on one, she was unstoppable. You could see it in her eyes that she wanted to win the match, and we needed that out there."

While the comeback was a total team effort, two other individuals had really impressive nights. Sophomore setter Leah Poel (Jenison, Mich.) came just one kill and one dig away from a triple double, tallying 59 assists, nine kills and nine digs.

Junior Brittany Groth (Oak Creek, Wis.), the reigning Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week, had a match-high 35 digs. She has 35-plus digs in back-to-back matches and, with four in her career, she holds four of the top-seven single-match dig performances.  

"Leah Poel really played well. It is hard for a setter to stand out from a statistical point, but she made great decisions, gave us a lot of on offense and played a really good match," said Kirch.

The Phoenix dug itself a hole by struggling with both service and attack errors in the opening two sets, but showed great resiliency in posting the comeback win. In the first two sets, Green Bay combined to have 16 errors. In the final three sets, the team had only seven errors.

After rallying to win sets three and four to force the decisive fifth, Green Bay lost the opening point of the final set. An attack error from Loyola tied it, and when the Ramblers finally got their next point, it was 10-2 Phoenix. At one stretch, senior Carlie Willison (Greenfield, Wis.) accounted for four points in a row, getting three kills and a solo block.

Green Bay scored four more consecutive points to make it 14-2, and a Lyndsay Zabkowicz (Oak Creek, Wis.) kill ended the comeback win moments later. Green Bay totaled 10 kills and hit .450 in the fifth set, and finished the final three sets with a hitting percentage of .364 (39 kills-7 errors-88 attacks).

"It hasn't been the season that she has wanted it to be, but she has been working really hard on her swing," said Kirch. "She hasn't had a lot of strength in her swing lately, but when we really needed it she swung much better. We needed someone to step up in that role with Leah Van Zeeland (Kaukauna, Wis.) out, and Carlie really did that for us in the fifth set."

Van Zeeland, who had 19 kills last Saturday against UIC, missed the contest due to injury.

In the third set, junior Haley Oelke (Mosinee, Wis.) served eight points in a row early to help Green Bay lead 11-1. Leitermann and Zabkowicz each had four kills in the set as Green Bay hit .333, and Groth posted 11 digs in the set.

Green Bay hit .344 in a much closer fourth set. It was 17-17 before the Phoenix scored four in a row to take control. Leitermann and senior Abbey Gitter (Hortonville, Wis.) each had four kills in the set. Gitter finished the match with 15 kills while Zabkowicz added 14.