Volleyball Scoreboard (Nov. 15)
Green Bay def., Cleveland State, 3-2 (26-24, 25-18, 23-25, 22-25, 15-10)
Milwaukee def., Youngstown State, 3-2 (25-18, 25-16, 22-25, 29-31, 15-8)
Oakland def., UIC, 3-2 (20-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-14, 19-17)
Valparaiso def. Wright State, 3-1 (27-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18)
Green Bay 3, Cleveland State 2
Behind a career-high 22 kills from senior Leah Van Zeeland (Kaukauna, Wis.), the Green Bay volleyball team (13-13, 8-5 HL) jumped out to a 2-0 advantage and held on for a five-set (26-24, 25-18, 23-25, 22-25, 15-10) victory at Cleveland State (14-12, 4-9 HL) Friday night at Woodling Gymnasium. The win kept the Phoenix in a tie for third place in the Horizon League standings with just one match remaining on the regular season schedule.
Van Zeeland hit an impressive .362 for the match and also had six block assists, helping the Phoenix post 17 team blocks in the win.
“Leah just really stepped up tonight and put the team on her back,” Green Bay head coach Michaela Franklin said. “She played big down the stretch and just became possessed with winning. She was swinging to score and was also a big part of our blocking success. She definitely took care of her job tonight.”
Four different Phoenix players finished with at least six blocks in the match, and four registered double-digit kill totals.
Along with Van Zeeland (6) and sophomore Mikaela Gunderson (Casco, Wis.) (10), senior Katie Mroczenski (New Berlin, Wis.) and sophomore Taylor Kasal (Westmont, Ill.) also posted six blocks apiece. The 10 blocks by Gunderson marked a career high, and the sophomore also finished with 11 kills for her first career double-double.
Kasal also notched 15 kills and 12 digs on the night for her second double-double of the year. Freshman Shannon Hurley (Connellsville, Pa.) was fourth Green Bay player in double-digit kills with 11.
Sophomore libero Jillian Bauer (Verona, Wis.) also had a career night on Friday, picking up 36 digs – the fifth-highest total in school history. Sophomore setter Emily Riese (Fond du Lac, Wis.) had another excellent match for the Phoenix as well, registering 58 assists, seven digs and four total blocks.
After escaping with a 26-24 win in the opener, Green Bay rolled to a 25-18 triumph in set two to open up the 2-0 advantage. The Phoenix block was key in the first two sets, as the visitors posted nine team blocks in the two wins. Gunderson had five of her career-high 10 blocks in sets one and two.
The Vikings came out firing after the break, opening up a 17-11 lead in the third and forcing Green Bay to call its final timeout of the set. The Phoenix was able to rally and cut the CSU lead to 24-23 thanks to eight Van Zeeland kills in the set, but the home team avoided the sweep with the 25-23 win.
Green Bay overcame a 5-0 deficit in the fourth to take a 17-15 lead late, but the Vikings scored 10 of the set’s final 15 points to win 25-22 and send the match to a fifth and final set.
The Phoenix controlled the fifth, opening up a 10-5 lead on Van Zeeland’s career-best 22nd kill of the match. The Vikings got it to three late at 13-10, but back-to-back kills by Gunderson ended the set and the match at 15-10.
Milwaukee 3, Youngstown State 2
Julie Kolinske had 18 kills to lead four players in double figures as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee clinched the outright Horizon League regular season title with a 25-18. 25-16, 22-25, 29-31, 15-8 win over Youngstown State Friday night.
Milwaukee (16-9, 12-1 Horizon) looked to be in complete control of the match after dominating the first two sets. But Youngstown State (15-13, 7-6) rallied by limiting UWM to just eight kills in the third frame before the Penguins pulled out a thrilling fourth set that included 21 ties.
But the Panthers then wasted little time in taking control of the fifth set, jumping to leads of 5-1 and 11-5 to wrap up the match.
Rachel Neuberger and Maggie Dunbar added 17 kills apiece for Milwaukee, which hit .283 for the match. In fact, the Panthers held a big edge in kills (73-57) and hitting percentage (.283-.189), while also outdigging the Penguins, 70-54.
Kaisa Mattson contributed 12 kills for the Panthers, while Kayla Price tallied 62 assists in directing the Milwaukee offense.
Taylor Golabowski led the back-row defense with 22 digs and was one of four players to reach double figures in the category.
Alexis Egler had 16 kills to lead Youngstown State (15-13, 7-6).
"There were too many times where Youngstown State was playing hard and we were playing safe," Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson said. "When we won it was definitive, but we couldn't get over the hump in that fourth set and we made some silly errors. But we also came through when it mattered and got a lot of great performances with people like Maggie and Kaisa stepping up."
UWM was thoroughly dominant in the first two sets. The Panthers hit .429 in the first frame and .344 in the second, never trailing after the very early going of each set. But YSU turned the tables in the third frame, holding Milwaukee to a .000 hitting clip while overcoming a 20-14 deficit.
Then in the fourth set, Milwaukee led 19-15 and 24-22 but could not close things out. In fact, UWM had six match-point chances before YSU finally rattled off two-straight on a service error and service ace to extend the match.
The fifth set was all Milwaukee. Two kills and a block in the early going by Neuberger set the tone and the lead hit 11-5 on a kill by Myanna Ruiz. The Panthers weren't threatened after that, with kills from Dunbar and Neuberger finally finishing things off.
"We definitely relaxed in set five and just settled down to put things away," Johnson said. "As hard as this match was to win, it was good to get the experience of a match like this and to see us respond and recover. In the end we maintained our composure, stayed loose, and did what we had to do to clinch the outright title."
Oakland 3, UIC 2
Cassie Pelloni notched an impressive 26 kills and teammate Melissa Deatsch recorded a double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs with three service aces as Oakland (14-14, 8-5 HL) defeated UIC (8-21, 3-10 HL) in five sets. Sets two and five both would go in to extra volleyball in this thrilling match. OU won with set scores of 20-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-14 and 19-17.
"This was a really exciting match," commented head coach, Rob Beam. "UIC played tremendous volleyball, so lots of credit to their players. I thought it took pretty much everything we had tonight to get the win."
Allia Knight was in double digit kills for Oakland as well with 10 and Taylor Humm was good for 24 digs in the match as a DS. Hitting efficiencies for Oakland were very manic in that OU hit 0 in the first set but .517 in the fourth to average .194 for the match compared to UIC's .163. UIC had three players with double-digit kills on the night, but could not outlast the Golden Grizzlies.
Set one did not go as planned for Oakland as the teams were tied at 7-7 before UIC would take control and cruise to the 25-20 set victory. Oakland aimed to answer back in the second set but the Flames showed much resilience as the set would go in to extra volleyball. OU pulled away in the end, taking the set 26-24.
Set three was controlled in large part by UIC, as the visitors would capitalize on a few untimely Oakland attacking errors. The Flames led 7-3 and kept rolling throughout the set until Oakland began a rally when UIC led 21-16. Deatsch would serve for eight straight points, including a kill and two service aces, to give Oakland the lead at 22-21. UIC was not deterred and earned the final points of the set to win it 25-22.
The match was in favor of the UIC Flames heading in to set four and Oakland came out on a mission and played the most dominating set of the entire match. The Golden Grizzlies got off to an 11-3 lead and did not look back. Pelloni was just beginning to get warmed up in the match as she would record eight kills in the fourth set. OU maintained their commanding lead and took the set 25-14.
The final set of the match certainly gave the fans their money's worth as the set was tied up at each of the points until the scoreboard read 17-17. A kill by Pelloni and a follow-up kill by Deatsch would secure a 19-17 win for Oakland and the 3-2 match victory.
Valparaiso 3, Wright State 1
Valparaiso volleyball senior Janelle Hobbs (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) was skipped during the introduction of starting lineups prior to Friday afternoon's match at Wright State, but Hobbs got the last laugh, putting together a career performance to lead the Crusaders as they downed the Raiders, 3-1 (27-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18). With the win, Valpo secured outright second place in the Horizon League and the second seed in the upcoming league tournament.
Hobbs matched her career best with 17 kills in the victory, more than doubling her previous season high. The senior right side also was efficient with her attacks, putting down the 17 kills on just 28 swings and committing just one attack error to hit at a tremendous .571 clip. Hobbs missed by just five percentage points cracking Valpo's all-time top-five hitting percentages in a four-set match. Hobbs wasn't the only Crusader to enjoy a stellar match on the attack, as senior middle Ellen Vanden Berg (Little Chute, Wis./Little Chute) backed her up with 13 kills on .407 hitting as well.
The victory would not come easily for Valpo, as each of the first three sets went right down to the wire. The Crusaders led 14-12 in the opener before an 8-0 run from the Raiders gave them a commanding 20-14 lead. Trailing 23-18, Valpo got two kills from Vanden Berg and one from Hobbs to close within two points, but an attack error gave Wright State three set points at 24-21.
Back-to-back Raider errors gave the Crusaders life, and a kill from Hobbs tied the frame at 24-all and forced extra points. WSU's Stephanie Ruffing posted a kill for a fourth set point opportunity, but Vanden Berg fought that off with another termination. Then, sophomore Kelsey Berrington (Britton, Mich./Tecumseh) perfectly executed a setter dump for a kill, giving Valpo its first set point chance at 26-25, and the Crusaders claimed the opener on a WSU attack error.
Valpo looked to have the second set under control after an 8-3 spurt gave the Crusaders a 19-14 edge, but Wright State fought back with five straight points to tie things up. The Raiders would claim a pair of one-point leads late in the frame, the latest coming at 23-22, but the Crusaders found kills from Vanden Berg, Hobbs and junior Morgan Beil (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) to end the set with three straight points and head into the in-game break up two sets to none.
Valpo scored the first four points of the third set, but the Raiders would come from behind and claim their first lead at 11-10. The teams went back and forth, as Wright State led late at 21-18 before three straight Crusader points tied it at 21 apiece. But the Raiders scored the next two points and the teams then traded sideouts the rest of the way as the match extended into a fourth set. The fourth frame would be all Valpo, however, as after WSU rallied from an early 5-1 Crusader lead to tie it at 7-7, the Crusaders scored nine of the next 11 points to take control for good.
Valpo hit .242 for the match with 60 kills as a team, as Berrington handed out 30 assists and senior Ariel Cudney (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte) tallied 16 assists. On the defensive side, freshman Morganne Longoria (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) led the way for the Crusaders in the back row with 21 digs, while Berrington registered a double-double by picking up 11 digs as well. At the net, Vanden Berg paced Valpo with seven blocks, as the Crusaders totaled 10 team blocks.
Stephanie Ruffing led Wright State (6-25, 0-13 Horizon) with 18 kills on .262 hitting, while Haley Garr and Heidi Splinter added 10 kills apiece. Miranda Puthoff was part of seven of the Raiders' 11 blocks.
