By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Three Phoenix hitters combined for 49 kills and junior setter Emily Riese (Fond du Lac, Wis.) directed the offense with 56 assists as the Green Bay volleyball team posted a 3-2 victory (25-14, 25-23, 25-27, 20-25, 15-12) over UT-San Antonio on Friday evening at the Marquette Invitational.
The victory over the Roadrunners salvaged a 1-1 day for the Phoenix after losing 3-0 (33-35, 19-25, 17-25) to Rice in the tournament opener on Friday afternoon.
“Tonight was a great team win,” head coach Sean Burdette said. “Setter Emily Riese distributed the ball well and put our hitters into position to score by finding the hot hitters. Becca Mastey had a great game defensively and receiving serve, and her serve really kept UTSA out of system for much of the match. Our two left sides – Taylor Kasal and Abby Jeffcoat – anchored us when games got tight and took big swings.”
Green Bay 3, UT-San Antonio 2
Using an impressive hitting percentage of .6363, Green Bay dominated the opening set on Friday evening against UT-San Antonio, an NCAA Tournament team from 2013. In the first set, the Phoenix had 15 kills and just one error in 22 swings.
Eighteen more kills in the second set propelled the Phoenix to a 25-23 win and a 2-0 lead in the match heading to intermission. Sophomore Megan Powers (Glendale, Ariz.) had nine kills in just 13 swings after two sets.
The Roadrunners rebounded to force a deciding fifth by taking both the third and fourth sets.
The back-and-forth final set was tied at 12-12 before Green Bay closed with three-straight points. Freshman Beth Kuske (Germantown, Wis.) put the Phoenix in front before Powers provided a match point with her 14th kills of the match. A UTSA error ended the match and gave Green Bay its second win of the season.
Junior Taylor Kasal (Westmont, Ill.) and freshman Abby Jeffcoat (Racine, Wis.) combined for 103 attacks in the match, with Kasal tallying 18 kills and Jeffcoat recording a season-high 17.
Rice 3, Green Bay 0
Jeffcoat tallied six kills without an error in the opening set against Rice, but the Owls pulled out a 35-33 win in the longest set for the Phoenix this season. Rice used the momentum from the first set to claim sets two and three 25-19 and 25-17, respectively.
The freshman Jeffcoat totaled a team-high 14 kills in the Rice match while Powers had nine kills and just one error.
Green Bay returns to action on Saturday at noon, finishing its stay in the tournament against host Marquette.
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