CLEMSON, S.C. - The Green Bay volleyball team fell to the South Alabama Jaguars 3-1 (15-25, 18-25, 25-18, 23-25) Friday afternoon at the Clemson Invitational. The loss moves the Phoenix to 2-2 on the young season.
The Phoenix attack was paced by Ellie Kurpeikis, who finished with 13 kills on the day with a scorching .500 attack percentage. Tiffany Paalman also finished with 13 kills while hitting .393. Defensively, GB had two players reach double figures in digs as Hannah Vanden Berg had 15 and Abby Gardner had 11. From the front row, Cora Behnke and Paalman each had five blocks.
South Alabama had three players with double-figure kills, led by a game-high 19 kills from Maddie Soboleski. Hannah Maddux finished with 13 while Abryanna Cannon had 10.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1 | The Phoenix found themselves in an early deficit, dropping a tough first set 25-15. The two teams battled back and forth at the start, finding themselves tied at 13 all. The Jaguars took over in the second half of the set, closing with a 12-2 run to grab a 1-0 advantage.
SET 2 | GB battled in the second set, but fell 2-0 after dropping the set 25-18. Set two was knotted up six times before the Jaguars took over thanks in large part to seven kills in the frame from South Alabama's Soboleski.
SET 3 | Green Bay bounced back with a 25-18 set victory of their own to make it a 2-1 match. An early 9-1 run set the Phoenix up to control the set from the start. Vanden Berg was key in the run, with three of her kills accounting for GB's nine points. The Phoenix finished the set with 17 kills.
SET 4 | The closest set of the day was the fourth, with the Jaguars narrowly closing out the match with a 25-23 set win. South Alabama took the lead at 5-4, and maintained a narrow lead the whole way. South Alabama never led by more than four.
GAME NOTES
» 12 Phoenix featured in Friday's match.
» Kurpeikis' 13 kills was a season-high.
» Vanden Berg's 15 digs was also a season-high.
» Green Bay attackers were helped by a team-high 37 assists from Calli Gentry.
» Green Bay finished the match with a season-high 48 kills.
COMING UP
Green Bay will look to get back over .500 tomorrow as they take on Western Carolina at 1 p.m. Following, they'll close the weekend taking on Clemson on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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