By Patrick Stumpf
DAYTON, Ohio (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – The Green Bay volleyball team began its Horizon League stretch run on Halloween eve on Friday night, defeating Wright State 3-1 in four sets (25-18, 25-17, 21-25, 26-24) at C.J. McLin Gymnasium in Dayton, Ohio.
Coming off a tough week at home, Green Bay's defense carried itself to a fast start to begin the match, jumping out to a two-set-to-none lead after holding the Raiders to an .087 percentage (11-for-47) and .000 percentage (9-for-37) in the first and second frames, respectively.
After Wright State took the third set by a score of 25-21, Green Bay grabbed a 15-8 lead in the fourth. However, the Raiders battled back to tie it on six different occasions: at 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 all. Wright State would take its first lead at 23-21, but the Phoenix stormed back to take five of the next six points to secure the victory, 26-24.
The Phoenix (15-10, 6-6 HL) was led offensively by sophomore Taylor Totka, who tied her career-single match best with 16 kills on a .343 attack percentage, which she most recently set on Oct. 2 against Northern Kentucky. Fellow sophomore Lydia DeWeese recorded a career-high 10 block-assists, the most by a Green Bay player since Katie Mroczenski had 11 against Ohio State on Sept. 31, 2013, while senior setter Emily Riese tallied a match-high 39 assists, her highest total since Oct. 2 against the Norse as well (career-high-tying 54).
Finally, with her seven digs in the opening set, senior libero Jillian Bauer (team-high 25 digs) became the fourth Phoenix player in program history to reach the 1,500-dig plateau, joining Brittany Groth (2009-12), Megan Elfering (2005-08) and Sarah Rauen (2003-06).
Green Bay was aided by both the Phoenix swimming and diving and cross country team contigent, which are competing either at or near the Wright State campus tomorrow.
UP NEXT
The Phoenix will continue its weekend set tomorrow in a quick turnaround against Northern Kentucky. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. from Highland Heights, Ky.
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