By Patrick Stumpf
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Two of the hottest teams in the Horizon League squared off on Wednesday night, as the Green Bay volleyball team fell to the defending conference-champion Oakland Golden Grizzlies in four sets (21-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-18) at the Kress Center. Both teams entered play having swept each of its last four league matches.
Head coach Sean Burdette's team jumped out to a four-point lead in the opening frame, 18-14, but Oakland responded on an 11-3 run to close out the first set, 25-21.
The Phoenix answered by hitting an impressive .417 (13-of-24) in the second set to shift the momentum to the home bench at intermission, scoring a 25-15 set win. Defensively, Green Bay held Oakland to just 15 points, which marked the Golden Grizzlies' lowest point total in sets scored to 25 since Sept. 5, when it scored just 11 points in its third set against Indiana State.
Oakland took charge once again out the break, however, winning each of the next two sets 25-23 and 25-18 to earn its fifth-straight Horizon League win, while improving its record to 8-2 overall in conference play.
The Phoenix were paced by sophomore middle blocker Lydia DeWeese (10 kills/.292 hitting percentage), senior setter Emily Riese (37 assists/16 digs) and senior libero Jillian Bauer, who recorded a match-high 27 digs. With her performance, Bauer (1,449) surpassed Janelle Tomlinson-Richard (1,435) for fourth on the Green Bay career digs list.
Oakland's Melissa Deatsch led all players with 13 kills, despite hitting just .067 (13-of-45), as four Golden Grizzlies' players notched double-digit digs on the night.
BOX SCORE – OAKLAND 3, GREEN BAY 1
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The Phoenix (14-8, 5-4 HL) will return to its home court on Friday night, when it welcomes in conference-leading Cleveland State (18-4, 7-1 HL) for the team's annual "Dig Pink" match. In an effort to raise Breast Cancer awareness, all fans in attendance are strongly encouraged to wear pink.
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