GREEN BAY, Wis.
(GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Senior Abbey Gitter (Hortonville, Wis.) had a
team-high 16 kills and Green Bay (8-13, 4-5 HL) raced out to a 2-0 lead
Saturday afternoon at the Kress Center, but visiting Milwaukee (17-4, 10-0 HL)
rallied for a five-set win (17-25, 16-25, 25-11, 25-22, 15-12) in Horizon
League volleyball action.
Looking to hand the Panthers their first conference
loss of the season, Green Bay used a 10-3 spurt midway through the opening set
to take control and never looked back. The Phoenix had 16 kills and just six
errors, including a combined 11 kills and zero errors from Gitter and fellow
senior Kelly Mischler (Kaukauna, Wis.).
The Phoenix trailed 10-7 in the second set before
taking 10 of the next 11 points, including seven on the serve of junior Brittany Groth (Oak Creek, Wis.), to move ahead 17-11. Two kills from
sophomore Lyndsay Zabkowicz (Oak Creek, Wis.) were part
of a 5-0 spurt to end the set as the hosts took a 2-0 lead into intermission.
Groth, the Horizon League's leader in digs per set,
had just one in the opening set but finished with a match-high 26. Zabkowicz,
who had 17 kills in the first meeting between the two squads, had 15 kills on
Saturday.
Milwaukee cruised to the third set win, but Green Bay
came back and looked poised to win the match in the fourth. Zabkowicz had five
kills early as the Phoenix built a 14-8 lead, and a kill from senior Carlie Willison (Greenfield, Wis.)
moments later had Green Bay in front 17-12. Milwaukee chipped away from there,
and the Panthers finally took the lead 21-20. Kerri Schuh had a kill to end the
set, 25-22. Schuh finished with a match-high 20 kills and tallied just three
errors.
The decisive fifth set was back and forth before a 5-1
run by the Phoenix gave it a 9-7 advantage. The Panthers then took six of the
next seven points to reclaim a lead they would never relinquish.
Gitter had her 16 kills with only two errors in
hitting .400 for Green Bay. Sophomore Leah
Poel (Jenison, Mich.) directed the offense with 44 assists and added 14
digs for a double-double.
Defensively, Mischler totaled six blocks while Haley Oelke (Mosinee, Wis.) and Sabrina Marunowski (Milwaukee, Wis.)
gave the Phoenix four players in double figures in digs with 12 and 11,
respectively.
Green
Bay returns to action on Friday, playing at UIC in Chicago at 7 p.m. The
Phoenix is 2-0 this season in the Windy City, downing both Chicago State and
Loyola.
