GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) --- The Green Bay Phoenix (19-10) won in four sets over the UIC Flames (18-13) this afternoon, advancing to the Horizon League Championship match tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. in the process. With a win tomorrow, the team will punch their first ticket to the NCAA Tournament since 2003, and their second in program history.
"UIC is a very talented team offensively, and we knew it would be a battle," said head coach
Abbey Sutherland after the match. "Before and during the match, we talked about sticking it out together. We're looking to get better at this point in the season, and we did that, hung tough, and did a good job in the fourth set."
Looking forward to Sunday's championship match, she added, "We're excited opportunity to play in front of our awesome fans again. Tonight's atmosphere was electric and we loved the support of a great crowd."
Green Bay 3, UIC 1
The Flames started out strong in set one (26-24), before Green Bay got in a groove thanks to nine kills by sophomore
Taylor Wolf. The ending of the match was tight, with the teams tying at 21, 22, 23, and 24 before the Phoenix were able to end it.
Despite picking up the first set win, set two (22-25) was a rough patch for Green Bay, as they struggled to hit accurately and communicate like usual. Their clip was just .133 in this set, compared to a extremely efficient.350 in the first, .333 in the second, and .325 in the fourth.
Their momentum truly sped up within the third game (25-22), as junior
Maddie Yoss began to direct the offensive toward senior
Jessica Wolf, who was able to execute eight kills throughout the set. The blocking efforts of the Phoenix also shone during set three. Sophomore
Ashley Sledge paired up with Yoss for two blocks, then teamed up with the younger Wolf for her third in just that set alone out of her nine total, the most out of any player by five. In this game, classmate
Anna Eaton also grabbed a solo block to keep her team fighting near the end.
The final set (25-16) was all Green Bay, jumping from being tied at 8 to leading dominantly 23-10 by going on a 15-2 scoring run, started off by a rare libero kill by senior
Vanessa Buman. The Flames rallied late, but the Phoenix held strong and decided against using a single timeout in the entire game as freshman
Alexandra Zakutney ended the match with her 10
th kill of the day.
The Wolf sisters both hit their highest numbers out of every four-set match this season, the younger tallying 24 and the elder making 17. Both hammered down more kills than the leading UIC attacker. They were helped by Yoss, who completed 54 assists, also the most in four matches for her during this season. Buman was effective in the back row, scooping up 22 digs, and was helped by senior
Austyn Everingham's 12 to support the defense.
The Phoenix will look to earn their first Horizon League Tournament Championship since 2003 tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. They will be facing the winners of the second semifinal match, #3 Northern Kentucky.
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