MILWAUKEE, Wis.
(GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Senior Abbey Gitter (Hortonville, Wis.) and sophomore
Lyndsay Zabkowicz (Oak Creek, Wis.) each had 17 kills Friday night in a
thrilling Horizon League opener for the Green Bay volleyball team, but the
visiting Phoenix (3-9, 0-1 Horizon) fell to defending league champion Milwaukee
(8-4, 1-0 Horizon) in four sets at the Klotsche Center in Milwaukee.
Zabkowicz, a Horizon League All-Newcomer team
selection last season, had her best match of 2011 on Friday. The sophomore had
only three errors in 35 swings to hit .400 for the match. Gitter also committed
just three errors to go with her 17 kills for Green Bay, who also got
double-digit kill efforts from junior Carmen Leitermann (Schofield, Wis.) and
sophomore Leah Van Zeeland (Kaukauna,
Wis.) with 11 and 10 respectively.
After winning the first two sets, Milwaukee scored the
opening six points of the third set and looked primed for an easy sweep, but the
Phoenix chipped away slowly on the strength of impressive play from Gitter,
Zabkowicz and Van Zeeland. Gitter's kills on four Phoenix points in a row
closed the margin to 12-10, and a block from the senior gave Green Bay its
first lead at 17-16.
The set remained tight from there, but the momentum
seemed to shift in Milwaukee's favor after an unfortunate error from Leitermann
that tied it at 23. Zabkowicz took over from there, tallying kills on three of
the final four points to close the set. The sophomore had seven kills and just
one error in the third set as Green Bay totaled 20 kills and hit .326 as a
team.
In the fourth, Green Bay led 12-8 early on a kill from
Gitter, but the Panthers scored 10 of the next 13 points to lead 18-15. Led by
Zabkowicz, the Phoenix stormed back and reclaimed the lead 20-19 on a block
from the sophomore. With the score tied at 21, the Panthers scored back-to-back
points and held off Green Bay for the match.
Milwaukee opened a lead in the first set by using a
four-point run midway through the set to turn a one-point edge into a 21-16
lead. However, trailing 23-19 late, the Phoenix scored four points in a row on
the strength of three kills from Leitermann to even the set. Milwaukee's Rachel
Neuberger's sixth and seventh kills of the first set to give the Panthers the 1-0
lead.
Set two saw the Phoenix fall behind 7-2 before
rallying with six-straight points to take an 8-7 lead. After a Leitermann kill
put Green Bay down 10-9, Milwaukee scored seven of the next points to take
control and pulled away for the 25-15 set win.
Sophomore Leah Poel (Jenison, Mich.) had 51 assists
for the Phoenix in leading the team to a hitting percentage of .223. Defensively, senior Kelly Mischler
(Kaukauna, Wis.) had a team-high five blocks for Green Bay while junior libero Brittany Groth (Oak Creek, Wis.)
finished with 29 digs.
Green Bay returns home for the first time in nearly a
month to host two Horizon League matches next weekend. The Phoenix will welcome
Valparaiso on Friday at 7 p.m. and UIC Saturday at 4 p.m.
