By: Ryan Hartwig (@RyanHartwig)
GreenBayPhoenix.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Playing in its final non-conference contest of the regular
season, the Green Bay volleyball team (10-9, 1-4 Horizon League) made quick
work of Chicago State (2-19, 0-2 Great West) Tuesday night at the Kress Center,
earning a 3-0 sweep to improve to 19-0 all-time against the Cougars.
The 25-18, 25-10, 26-24
win snapped a three-match losing streak for the Phoenix, and kicked off the
team's three-match homestand on a high note.
"It was a good way to
start the week," Green Bay head coach Debbie Kirch said. "We obviously wanted to get back on track after the way things
have been going the last few matches. We got the chance to try some different
things offensively and I thought all those things worked well. We accomplished
what we wanted to accomplish tonight."
The Phoenix used a
balanced offensive attack to overwhelm the Cougars, finishing with a staggering
.301 to .096 advantage in hitting percentage. Green Bay also ended with the
edge in every major statistical category, owning Chicago State in kills
(46-31), assists (41-31), blocks (11-2) and digs (55-48).
A trio of Phoenix players tied
for the match high in kills, as Katie Mroczenski (New Berlin, Wis.), Carmen Leitermann (Schofield, Wis.) and Leah Van Zeeland (Kaukauna, Wis.) recorded nine apiece. Mroczenski finished with
a hitting percentage of .500, committing just one error in 16 swings en route
to tying her career-best kill total, while Leitermann and Van Zeeland hit .467 and
.208, respectively.
Trailing 13-11 in the
first, the Phoenix used a Lyndsay Zabkowicz
(Oak Creek, Wis.) kill to jump-start an 8-1 run that gave the hosts a 19-14
lead. Kills by Leah Poel (Jenison,
Mich.) and Monica Anderson (Cottage
Grove, Wis.) helped the Phoenix to a set point chance at 24-18, and Mroczenski
closed it out with a kill to give Green Bay the 1-0 lead.
Set two was all Phoenix,
as the home team out-hit its opposition .455 to .053 in a 25-10 thrashing. Back-to-back
kills by Leitermann capped off a 9-2 run that made it 18-6 Green Bay, and two
straight kills by freshman Mikaela Gunderson (Casco, Wis.) finished off the rout to make it 2-0.
The Phoenix led 24-21 in
the third, but the Cougars denied three straight match point opportunities to
tie things up at 24-24. A double-block by Mroczenski and Van Zeeland after a
Phoenix timeout moved the home team back in front, and Van Zeeland delivered
the final blow with a kill to give her team the 26-24 win and the 3-0 sweep.
Brittany Groth
(Oak Creek, Wis.), who entered the match ranked first in the Horizon League and
fourth in the NCAA in digs per set, recorded a match-high 22 digs to push her
season average to 6.09. Poel finished with a match-high 23 assists, while
Mroczenski led the way with eight total blocks.
All 14 Phoenix players in
uniform saw action on Tuesday night - playing time that Kirch feels was
well-deserved.
"It's good to be able to
reward the players on the team with solid playing time," Kirch said. "We have
15 players that commit their time and effort and work hard each and every day,
so it's nice to have a match where we can get everybody on the court. Our scout
team in practice has been the best that we've ever had since I've been here,
and they definitely deserve the playing time."
Green Bay continues its
three-match homestand with a pair of Horizon League matches this weekend. The
Phoenix welcomes Valparaiso to the Kress Center on Friday for a 7 p.m. meeting,
and then closes out the weekend on Saturday with a 4 p.m. contest against
Wright State.
PHOENIX ON TV:
Tape-delayed broadcasts of
Tuesday's match between Green Bay and Chicago State can be seen five times over
the next five days on Time Warner Cable Sports32. The first airing will be
Wednesday night at 7 p.m. For a complete schedule of when the match will air, click
here.
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