CHICAGO, Ill. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) --- Green Bay Phoenix volleyball (8-8, 3-1 HL) was head-to-head with the UIC Flames (9-8, 2-2 HL) this afternoon, taking the match in an intense five-set victory (25-13, 24-26, 25-23, 17-25, 16-14). This pushes Green Bay to its third-straight Horizon League match win.

"I'm proud of the fight our team showed today and yesterday," said head coach Abbey Sutherland. "They embraced opening the first two weekends of conference play on the road, and stuck together to bring our record to 3-1. They had the mindset in practice this week to improve in certain areas and I saw that growth this weekend." 
 
Green Bay 3, UIC 2
In the first five-set win for the Phoenix this year, the team opened the match with a dominating twelve-point win with a .471 hitting percentage in the first set before the Flames had a chance to get warmed up. From there, every set was tightly contested, with the teams going back and forth to force a fifth set.
 
In the fifth set, Green Bay jumped to a 6-0 lead early on as the Flames committed error after error, but UIC crept back up in the latter half of the game with two successful challenges. Sophomore Anna Eaton and freshman Alexandra Zakutney ended the intense match with two blocks in a row, giving the Phoenix 11.5 total blocks compared to UIC's five.
 
Zakutney had quite the day, collecting a season-high 14 kills, only four behind powerhouse sophomore Taylor Wolf. She also put up a season-high six blocks, tying Eaton for match leader, but Zakutney picked up her own individual block as well. Senior Vanessa Buman led both teams with 25 digs, and junior Maddie Yoss helped out with 15 of her own along with her 41 assists.
 
Next Game
The Phoenix will finally play a match at home for the first time in the 2018-19 season, welcoming the Oakland Grizzlies to the Kress Events Center next Friday, October 5 at 6:00 p.m.
 
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