By Patrick Stumpf
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – The Green Bay volleyball completed its longest home stand of its season on Saturday afternoon, dropping a three-set decision to Youngstown State at the Kress Center, 23-25, 16-25, 24-26.
The Penguins set the tone of the match early on, jumping out to an 8-3 lead in set No. 1. The Phoenix would pull with one of a couple of occasions, including at 23-22, but ultimately was unable to find the tying point. Youngstown State continued the trend in the second, getting out to a 9-2 advantage before taking a 2-0 lead into intermission.
Green Bay appeared poised to force a fourth set after a service ace from senior libero Jillian Bauer gave the Phoenix a 24-23 lead late in the third frame, but after a YSU timeout, the Penguins (9-16, 3-7 HL) won three consecutive points to seal its third Horizon League victory.
Green Bay (14-10, 5-6 HL) was facing a Youngstown State team who fell in dramatic fashion to Milwaukee on the road less than 24 hours ago, losing 3-2 in five-sets after leading 2-0.
"Credit Youngstown (State) tonight, they did a really nice job with its game-plan,” said head coach Sean Burdette following the match. “We've had a tough week with losses, especially now not being able to exit the weekend with one."
"It's a grind in this conference. Everybody wants to win, everybody wants to make the conference tournament. That's everybody's goal at this point. We've out to turn it around, iron some things out and practice to the best of our ability."
Junior Megan Powers led the Phoenix offensive attack for the second consecutive day, recording a match-high 16 kills on a .344 hitting percentage. Orchestrating the offense and defense were senior setter Emily Riese (32 assists) and the aforementioned Bauer (27 digs), who is now just six digs shy of reaching 1,500 in her career at Green Bay.
Additionally, Bauer's 27 digs in a three-set match tie her season-best done against California back on Sept. 5 in Manhattan, Kan. Both marks fell just two digs shy of tying Brittany Groth's program record at 29 digs, set on Aug. 25, 2012 against Auburn.
"I think certainly there was an emotional letdown after having the first-and second-place teams in here and competing really well with them," said Burdette. "We didn't get the outcome (either night) we wanted and that played into it a little bit today. But that's not an excuse, we have to treat every team the same way and have the same level of play and execution."
BOX SCORE – YOUNGSTOWN STATE 3, GREEN BAY 0
UP NEXT
The Phoenix will hit the road before returning to action next weekend against Wright State on Friday and Northern Kentucky on Halloween. Green Bay faces the Raiders at 6 p.m. in Dayton, Ohio, followed by a quick turnaround in Highland Heights, Ky., with a 2 p.m. first-serve against the Norse.
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