By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)
Green Bay Athletics
INDIANAPOLIS,
Ind. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Playing
its fourth match in six days, the Green Bay volleyball team fell short in three
close sets Sunday afternoon at Butler, losing 3-0 (25-21, 27-25, 25-21) in
Horizon League action at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Green Bay closed its first half of
its conference schedule at 4-4, tied with Butler in fifth place in the league
standings.
Sophomore Lyndsay Zabkowicz (Oak Creek, Wis.) continued her strong play of late with a
team-high 13 kills for the Phoenix. Senior Abbey Gitter (Hortonville, Wis.), who led the Phoenix with 13 kills and zero
errors in Saturday's win at Wright State, added nine kills and just one error
on Sunday. However, the Green Bay players other than Zabkowicz and Gitter had
just 21 kills and 14 errors.
Green Bay opened slowly and trailed throughout the
opening set, but a kill from junior Carmen Leitermann (Schofield, Wis.) made it 22-20 and gave the Phoenix a chance.
Butler was able to pull away and close out the set from there.
Butler had the lead for most of the second set, but Zabkowicz
capped a 4-0 spurt with a kill to give the Phoenix a 22-20 lead late. Green Bay
had a set point moments later after a Gitter kill made it 24-23, but the
Bulldogs dismissed the chance and took the set, 27-25.
Junior Haley Oelke (Mosinee, Wis.) recorded a
service ace midway through the third set to put Green Bay ahead 16-13 as the
Phoenix looked to avoid the sweep. Butler scored the next four points and eight
the next nine to take control.
Junior Brittany Groth (Oak Creek, Wis.) had 19 digs
to remain as the Horizon League's leader in digs per set. She was one of four
players with double digits in digs for Green Bay, as sophomore setter Leah Poel (Jenison, Mich.) had her second double-double in as many days
with 32 assists and 14 digs. Oelke had a career-high 13 digs and sophomore Sabrina Marunowski (Milwaukee, Wis.) had 11.
With the busy stretch in the books, Green
Bay will return home and host league-leading Milwaukee on Saturday, Oct. 15 at
the Kress Center. The match will be the team's annual Breast Cancer Awareness Match
and will begin at 4 p.m.
Green
Bay (8-12, 4-4 HL)
ZABKOWICZ, Lyndsay 13-0-2; GITTER, Abbey
9-0-1; WILLISON, Carlie 8-0-1; LEITERMANN, Carmen 6-1-4; MISCHLER, Kelly 4-0-0;
POEL, Leah 3-0-0; OELKE, Haley 0-2-0; Totals 43-3-4.0. (Assists) - POEL, Leah
32. (Dig leaders) - GROTH, Brittany 19; POEL, Leah 14; OELKE, Haley 13;
MARUNOWSKI, Sabrina 11
Butler
(8-12, 4-4 HL)
BAMIRO, Maureen 17-0-3; OBERT, Belle
9-0-0; RANDICH, Claire 8-1-2; KYLE, Kelly 8-1-3; VERA, Gina 3-0-2; HARBISON,
Maggie 2-0-1; KRANDA, Stephanie 1-2-3; RUFFOLO, Brooke 0-1-0; Totals 48-5-8.0.
(Assists) - VERA, Gina 40. (Dig leaders) - RUFFOLO, Brooke 21; KYLE, Kelly 18;
OBERT, Belle 13
