Saturday Brings Volleyball to Midway Point of League Season

Saturday, October 19 Results
Green Bay 3, Cleveland State 1 (27-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-22) 
Milwaukee 3, Youngstown State 0 (25-10, 25-23, 25-13)
Oakland 3, UIC 0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-17)
Valparaiso 3, Wright State 0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-22)

Green Bay 3, Cleveland State 1
Senior Leah Van Zeeland powered her team out of the gates on Saturday afternoon and helped Green Bay (9-11, 4-3 HL) close out visiting Cleveland State (12-8, 2-5 HL) as the Phoenix posted a 3-1 (27-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-22) victory in Horizon League volleyball action at the Kress Events Center. The senior tied her career high with 21 kills as Green Bay moved back above .500 in league play.

Van Zeeland had eight kills on nine swings in set one as Green Bay hit .486 and won a thrilling set, 27-25. The Phoenix staved off a set point for Cleveland State and scored the final three points of the set.

Freshman Shannon Hurley recorded five of her 18 kills in the second set, and Green Bay pulled away from the Vikings for a 25-21 win and a 2-0 edge.
Sophomore Mikaela Gunderson totaled eight kills in the third set as the Phoenix jumped out to a 21-14 lead, but the Vikings stormed back to take their first lead of the set at 25-24 and claim the win 26-24. Gunderson finished the match with 16 kills and a .483 hitting percentage on 29 swings.Van Zeeland helped ensure that the Phoenix would not allow the Vikings to force a fifth set, tallying seven kills in the fourth to help the hosts close out the match. The set was tied at 21 before Green Bay won four of the final five points to claim the conference win.

Sophomore Emily Riese recorded her third straight double-double in the win, directing the offense to a .290 hitting percentage with 56 assists and adding 10 digs on defense.

Sophomore libero Jillian Bauer led the defense with 21 digs while sophomore Becca Mastey was also in double figures with 11 digs.

Grace Kauth had 17 kills to lead the Vikings, while Nikki Holmes had 20 digs.

Milwaukee 3, Youngstown State 0
Rachel Neuberger had 15 kills to lead three players in double figures as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee wrapped up its perfect run through the first half of Horizon League play with a 25-10, 25-23, 25-13 win over Youngstown State Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.

Milwaukee (11-8. 7-0 Horizon) hit a stellar .381 for the match against a Penguin team that entered the contest leading the league in blocks. Julie Kolinske and Sammi Herron added 12 kills apiece as the Panthers committed just 11 hitting errors.

UWM's defense also did its part, limiting the Penguins (12-10, 4-3) to a .124 hitting clip. Milwaukee assembled another dominant stat line, winning the kill-battle, 51-31, while outdigging YSU, 54-34.

Taylor Golabowski had 17 digs to lead the Milwaukee defense, with Neuberger added five blocks up front.

Shannon Watson had 10 kills for YSU, which did win in Green Bay Friday night but could not complete a sweep of its weekend road trip.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee remained unbeaten in league play at the midway point, having collected five of its seven league wins in three sets.

Neuberger continued her stellar weekend play. After tallying 20 kills in the win over Cleveland State Friday, she added 15 more and had just three hitting errors in the two matches.

The Panthers also overcame the absence of freshman Myanna Ruiz, who sprained her ankle late in Friday's match and did not play Saturday. Herron filled in for her up front, while Maddie Schmitz took back-row duties and had seven digs.

Milwaukee was threatened in only one of the three sets Saturday. The Panthers used a 16-3 run to dominate the first set before fighting from behind in the second frame. But a kill from Neuberger followed by a YSU error gave the Panthers the lead for good in set two before a Kolinske kill closed things out. UWM again dominated the third set, closing out the match on a 14-5 run.

Oakland 3, UIC 0
Cassie Pelloni notched 11 kills for Oakland and Amanda Baker had 10 of her own as the Golden Grizzies (9-13, 3-4 HL) made a statement by sweeping UIC (7-15, 2-5 HL) on Saturday. The match was a much-needed victory for OU and leaves the team with one win and one loss over the course of this weekend.

Melissa Deatsch continued her lethal serving ways as she earned four service aces in this match. As a team, Oakland's hitting efficiency was a cool .318 compared to a .076 percentage from UIC.

The Grizzlies got started right away in the first set by gaining an early lead that kept on growing. Jessica Dood would end the set with a kill for the 25-14 win. Set two, though a closer affair than the first, was still controlled by Oakland for the vast majority of action. The team was able to hang on for the 25-18 win and the 2-0 overall advantage in the match.

Set three featured a brief UIC lead but Baker recorded a kill for the side out which put the serve in Deatsch's hands. She would tally one of her four service aces and Oakland was back in the driver's seat. OU held on to its lead and won the set 25-17 to end the match with a clean sweep.

Valparaiso 3, Wright State 0
The Valparaiso volleyball team ended the first half of Horizon League play on a winning note Saturday afternoon, sweeping Wright State 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-22) on Breast Cancer Awareness night at the ARC.

With the win, the Crusaders maintained their hold on second place in the league standings, moving to 6-1 in league play at the halfway point. Valpo is also now 18-4 overall, just two wins shy of reaching the 20-win milestone for a 12th consecutive season.

The Crusaders had little trouble with the Raiders in the opening set, leading start to finish. Valpo scored the first three points of the frame en route to a 13-5 start to the set, putting down 10 kills during that span, led by three from senior Ellen Vanden Berg. The Raiders closed to within 15-12, but Valpo closed the set on a 10-4 spurt to claim the opener.

Valpo and Wright State traded points through the opening stages of the second set, but a 5-0 run at the midway point, highlighted by a pair of kills by senior Janelle Hobbs, gave Valpo a 15-10 advantage. The Raiders responded with the next three points, but the Crusaders answered with a 6-2 stretch to increase their lead, and eventually a block from Vanden Berg and sophomore Nicole Lambert gave Valpo a 2-0 lead into the in-game break.

The Crusaders never trailed in the third and final set, but Wright State kept it close all the way, erasing a six-point Valpo lead at 13-7 to eventually tie the set at 18 apiece. Four straight points by the Crusaders gave them breathing room before the Raiders responded with three straight points of their own to close within 22-21. After the teams traded points, senior Sarah Dooms recorded a kill to give Valpo match point, and Hobbs stepped back to the service line and delivered just her second service ace of the season to close out the sweep.

It was a balanced offensive effort for the Crusaders on Saturday, as Dooms and junior Morgan Beil paced Valpo with eight kills each. Vanden Berg added seven kills on .385 hitting while playing just two sets, while Hobbs hit .455 with six kills. Senior Ariel Cudney dished out 15 assists to go with 13 assists from sophomore Kelsey Berrington.

Freshman Morganne Longoria led the effort on the back line with a match-high 13 digs and also picked up two of Valpo's seven service aces. The Crusaders continued their strong block of late as well with nine rejections on the afternoon, as Vanden Berg was in on six of the Valpo blocks.

Heidi Splinter led Wright State (6-19, 0-7 Horizon) with 12 kills on .379 hitting, but the rest of the Raiders combined for just 18 kills. Miranda Puthoff posted a double-double with 24 assists and 10 digs.