By Patrick Stumpf
CLEVELAND, Ohio (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Freshman outside hitter Jessica Wolf posted a career-high 19 kills as the No. 5 seed Green Bay volleyball team battled Northern Kentucky for the third time this season, but the fourth-seeded Norse pulled out a four-set victory (15-25, 28-26, 21-25, 23-25) at Woodling Gymnasium on Friday night, ending the Phoenix's season in the quarterfinal at the Horizon League Tournament.
Green Bay (17-13, 8-8) was seeking its first quarterfinal win at the conference tournament since 2006, while also looking to knock off the Norse for the first time in program history (0-5).
"I think one word we can use is resilient," said Burdette to sum up his team's season. "Coming off of last year, which certainly wasn't the outcome anyone wanted, we set some small goals this year and achieved a lot of them. I'm proud of this group, especially proud of the seniors, and excited about how far we came."
"What we said after this is it's a taste (of the postseason). It's not where we want to be, we want to be playing further next year, and that's going to be the goal-- winning a conference championship. There's still a building process for it, but I thought the buy-in was great this year."
Northern Kentucky jumped out to an early 14-10 lead midway through the opening set after scoring seven points in an eight-point stretch, and ended the frame by tallying 18 of the final 24 to take a 1-0 match lead, 25-15. The match acted as a microcosm of the earlier meetings on Oct. 2 and Oct. 31, as the Phoenix responded in the second set by rallying from down 17-14 to force extra time, eeking out a 28-26 second frame on the strength of a .316 team-hitting percentage.
It appeared that Green Bay would take set No. 3 after it began the set with four straight points and six of the first eight, but the Norse would not go away by answering on a 7-1 run to retake the lead, 9-7. The Phoenix knotted the set back up at 19, but Northern Kentucky would outlast Green Bay 25-21 to grab a 2-1 match lead with a four-point win.
With its back against the wall in set No. 4, Green Bay mounted an impressive rally after going down four, 20-16, to not only tie, but take a late two-point lead at 23-21. Ultimately, however, it was unable to put NKU away.
Senior setter Emily Riese (45 assists/13 digs) played her final game in a Phoenix uniform by recording her 15th double-double of the season, while 2015 Horizon Defensive Player of the Year Jillian Bauer posted a game-high 22 digs. Fellow seniors Becca Mastey (12 digs) and Taylor Kasal (nine digs), also finished their career with solid performances.
The Norse had five players reach double-digit kills, and was led by junior Keely Creamer, who paced the team with a team-high 15.0 points. It will take on top-seeded Cleveland State in the semifinals tomorrow afternoon.
NOTES
- History was made for the Green Bay program on Friday night as sophomore middle blocker Lydia DeWeese (12 kills/.346 percentage) established a program-record for hitting percentage in a single season at .333, surpassing Tammy Wolff who hit .321 in 1991.
- Bauer ends her season with 576 digs, which was one dig shy of tying Brittany Elfering's 2008 campaign for the third-most digs in a single season in Green Bay history. At 5.43 digs per set, however, she did eclipse Elfering's mark that year (5.39) for the third-best statistical season by a Phoenix player ever. Bauer ends her career with a total of 1,613 digs in three seasons, ranking third-most behind Brittany Groth (1,851) and Elfering (1,789).
- Riese ends her career with 3,176 assists, also in three seasons, just 46 behind the aforementioned Wolff (3,222) for the fourth-most ever in a Green Bay uniform.
- Mastey ended her season 12 digs shy of 1,000 on the year, but ends having played 418 sets in her career, which ranks inside the top-10 (10) in Phoenix annals.
- The Phoenix's season comes to an end having posted an overall record of 17-13, more than tripling its 2014 win total (5). It marks the highest single-season win increase (12) in program history since becoming a Division I institution.
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