UWM & Valpo Sweep, GB Scores Comeback Win on Saturday

Saturday, October 26 Results
Green Bay 3, Wright State 2 (18-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-18, 15-13)
Milwaukee 3, Oakland 0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-16)
Valparaiso 3, UIC 0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-22)

Green Bay 3, Wright State 2
The Green Bay volleyball team bounced back from an 0-2 deficit on Saturday afternoon to win a five-set nail-biter (18-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-18, 15-13) against Wright State at the C.J. McLin Gymnasium. The Phoenix improved to 10-12 overall and 5-4 in Horizon League play, while the Raiders dropped to 6-21 and 0-9 in conference action.

Senior Leah Van Zeeland was instrumental in Green Bay’s comeback, registering her ninth double-double of the year with 17 kills – 12 in the final three sets – and 12 digs. Sophomore Emily Riese also had an impressive match, securing her 10th double-double of the season with 50 assists and 11 digs.

Freshman Shannon Hurley and sophomore Taylor Kasal joined Van Zeeland in double-figure kills with 17 and 14, respectively, while sophomore Jillian Bauer led four Phoenix players in double-digit digs with 22.

Wright State gained the 2-0 advantage by holding the Phoenix to a .000 hitting percentage (9 kills, 9 errors) in the 25-18 opener before winning the tight second set 26-24. Freshman Stephanie Ruffing led the Raiders with eight kills in the first two sets.

Green Bay regrouped during the break and responded with a pair of 25-18 wins to force the deciding fifth set. The Phoenix hit an impressive .516 in the fourth, led by Van Zeeland’s seven kills on 10 swings. Hurley and Kasal also contributed four kills apiece in the fourth-set win.

Set five saw the Phoenix jump out to an 11-5 lead, but the Raiders were able to cut it to one at 12-11. Green Bay got its first match point chance at 14-11 after a Bauer service ace, and Kasal eventually ended it at 15-13 with her 14th kill of the contest.

Ellen Senf led the Raiders with 13 kills on the day, while Ruffing recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs.

Milwaukee 3, Oakland 0
Julie Kolinske had 14 kills and Rachel Neuberger added 11 while hitting a collegiate-best .846 as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee claimed a 25-20, 25-21, 25-16 sweep at Oakland Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers (13-8, 9-0 Horizon) hit a season-best .409 in winning for the ninth-straight time.

Setter Kayla Price directed the Milwaukee offense flawlessly, collecting 39 assists as the Panthers hit at least .300 for the sixth time in nine league wins.

Taylor Golabowski led Milwaukee's defensive efforts with 15 digs, while Neuberger had a part in all five Panther blocks.

Cassie Pelloni had 10 kills to lead Oakland (10-15, 4-5), which simply could not slow the Milwaukee attack at any point during the match.

Milwaukee used a late surge to claim the first set. The Panthers had an early 9-6 lead following a block by Neuberger and Sammi Herron and then went up 14-9 on a kill by Kolinske. Oakland fought back to tie the frame at 15-apiece but UWM surged back ahead 20-17 after a kill from Neuberger. A kill by Kolinske pushed the lead to 22-18 and an Oakland error eventually wrapped up the set for Milwaukee.

The Panthers pulled away in the second frame. After trailing 7-5 early on, Milwaukee went ahead for good at 12-11 following a kill by Herron. That actually sparked a seven-point Panther run, with a kill by Neuberger pushing the lead to 18-11. Oakland did fight back to within 21-19 but two kills from Kolinske pushed Milwaukee to set-point. A kill from Latzig then finished the frame and put UWM in control of the match.

UWM then didn't let up in the third set. The Panthers took the lead for good at 8-7 on a Kolinske kill and led 12-8 after a kill by Neuberger. The lead grew to 16-11 following a block by Kolinske and Neuberger and hit 21-14 after a Latzig kill. Two-straight aces from Maisey Mulvey made it 24-15 and a kill by Maggie Dunbar then wrapped up the match.

Valparaiso 3, UIC 0
The Valparaiso volleyball team put together one of its most dominant performances of the season Saturday afternoon to sweep UIC, 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-22) at the ARC to kick off the second half of Horizon League play.  The win was the 20th of the season for the Crusaders, extending their streak of consecutive 20-win campaigns to 12 straight years.

Valpo was one of just 11 programs nationwide to have won at least 20 matches in each of the previous 11 seasons, and becomes one of the first to reach the milestone again in 2013.  Head coach Carin Avery has led the Crusaders to at least 20 wins in each of her 12 seasons at the helm, as Valpo has won 282 matches over that stretch.

Valparaiso honored former Crusader standout Angie (Porché) Rundh, a four-time All-League honoree and two-time Honorable Mention All-American, as well as Valpo’s all-time leader in kills and attacks, prior to Saturday afternoon’s match.  To conclude the pregame ceremony, a banner was unveiled in the rafters of the ARC, bearing her name and number.

Once the match got underway, the Crusaders played nearly perfect volleyball offensively in each of the first two sets, never trailing in either frame.  After the teams traded sideouts to start the opener, Valpo reeled off five points in a row, including a pair of kills from junior Morgan Beil to take a lead it would never relinquish.  Then, up 19-12 late in the set, the Crusaders ended the opener by claiming six of the last seven points, another pair of which came on Beil kills to close out a six-kill first set by the junior.

Valpo hit at a .500 clip in the opening set, but managed to top itself in set two, hitting .522 as it went ahead two sets to none.  The Crusaders scored the first six points of the set on the serve of sophomore Kelsey Berrington (Britton, Mich./Tecumseh) and didn’t look back from there.  Along with the stellar offense came five blocks from Valpo in the middle set, the last of which gave Valpo set point at 24-10, and two points later, senior Sarah Dooms sent the Crusaders into the in-game break up two sets with a kill.

The third set proved to be the tightest of the match, as UIC led by one point on a few occasions early on.  A four-point Crusader spurt gave Valpo a 15-10 lead past the midway point, but the Flames cut the lead to two a number of times.  At 23-21, a kill by senior Ellen Vanden Berg put Valpo on the verge of sweeping the match, and following a UIC kill, Dooms came up with her 11th kill of the match to close out the win.

The Crusaders hit at a .394 clip for the match, posting 44 kills against just seven hitting errors.  Their .394 hitting percentage was the team’s best in a single match since posting an identical mark in a win over Loyola on Oct. 21, 2011.  Dooms led the way with 11 kills on .385 hitting, while Beil finished the match with nine kills and hit .389.

Vandenberg tallied seven kills while hitting .333, senior Janelle Hobbs hit .455 with six kills and redshirt junior Kelsey Victor recorded five kills on just eight swings.  Berrington handed out 20 assists and senior Ariel Cudney dished out 13 helpers in the sweep.

Defensively, Valpo matched a season high with 13 team blocks, led once again by the efforts of Vanden Berg at the net, who totaled seven rejections.  Hobbs and Victor were in on five blocks apiece as well.  It was a total team effort on the back line as the Crusaders out-dug UIC 44-36, as freshman Morganne Longoria led the way for Valpo with eight digs.

UIC (7-16, 2-6 Horizon) was paced by nine kills each from Sara Sternard and Molly McCoy, but the Flames hit just .038 for the match.  MaryKate Imrie handed out 25 assists.