Oct. 3, 2008

Box Score |  Notes

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Abby Bergsma had 20 kills and Holly Visser added 10 as the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay captured a 18-25, 15-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-10 win over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Friday night at the Kress Center.

The Panthers (10-5, 3-1 Horizon) seemed to be in complete control of the match after dominating each of the first two sets. But the Phoenix (7-8, 3-2) rode fast starts in the third and fourth sets along with a late surge in the fifth to the victory, just the third in the last 32 meetings with Milwaukee.

Becky Peters had 16 kills and Maddie Sueppel 14 for UWM, which had just 10 hitting errors in the first two sets but 20 over the final three frames.

Both sides played strong defense, with Milwaukee hitting just .155 and Green Bay just .174. UWM's Lauren Felsing led all players with 33 digs, while Megan Elfering had 30 for Green Bay.

"We played so well in the first two sets but then every part our of game slowly broke down," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "Green Bay played really well and deserved to win that match. As the match went on, they played with confidence and we did not. We've been very good at making changes during a match and stopping things when they start to go wrong, but tonight we just couldn't make those adjustments to get back on track."

Milwaukee controlled the first set. The Panthers scored seven of the first nine points in the frame and still led 13-7 after a Kellye Zaporski ace. Milwaukee eventually led 16-9 after a Sueppel kill, though Green Bay did crawl back to within 19-16 and again within 21-18. But, the Panthers scored the final four points of the set, collecting kills from Natalie Chery and Peters, an ace from Lauren Hintze and a Green Bay hitting error.

The Panthers were also in control throughout the second set. Milwaukee led 8-2 after a pair of kills from Peters and extended the edge to 12-5 on a kill by Kerri Schuh. The lead grew to double figures at 17-7 after another kill by Peters and Green Bay never got closer than seven points after that. A solo block from Natalie Schmitting kept the lead at 21-11, an ace by Peters made it 23-13 and a kill by Schuh closed out the frame.

Green Bay got back in the match by winning the third set. The Phoenix took control from the outset, building an 8-3 lead after back-to-back errors by the Panthers. UWM did close to within 9-8 and again to within 10-9, but could never force a tie. The Phoenix edge grew to 19-13 on a Nikki Hintze ace and never went below five after that. A Bergsma kill then wrapped things up for Green Bay.

The Phoenix kept rolling in the fourth set. Green Bay jumped out to leads of 6-3 and 9-6, though UWM did fight back to tie the frame at 9 and 10. The Phoenix then built a 15-11 lead on a Visser kill and saw the edge grow to 19-12 on a UWM error. The Panthers never got closer than six points after that as Green Bay forced a fifth set.

The fifth set was tight early on, with Green Bay leading just 9-8 after a hitting error. The Panthers were still within 11-9 on a tip kill by Trawitzke and 12-10 following a kill by Schmitting. But, two kills by Visser sandwiched around a UWM hitting error allowed Green Bay to complete the surprising comeback.

The Panthers return to action with four matches next week. The busy stretch starts Tuesday night when Loyola visits the Klotsche Center.