CHICAGO – Chicago State volleyball concluded the month's slate of competition tonight as it fell to visiting Green Bay in three sets (25-20, 25-13, 25-12) at the Jacoby Dickens Center. The Phoenix saw their season record improve to 4-10 and the Cougars dropped to 0-14 on the year.
The home team claimed a 4-2 leading margin early in the match's first set after kills from sophomore Mazvita Maziveyi (Harare, Zimbabwe/Hillside (NC)) (Durham, N.C.) and redshirt senior Shamara Clark (Bloomington, IN/South) (Bloomington, Ind.). CSU later increased its advantage to 11-8 following a kill by junior Brittany Hale (South Holland, IL/Grand View (Iowa)) (South Holland, Ill.) that capped a 3-1 run to snap an 8-8 tie. Green Bay then went on a 11-4 scoring drive, including three service aces from sophomore Laura Garrow, that gave it a 19-15 lead. The Cougars then pulled within 19-17 following a kill from Maziveyi and a service ace by junior Hanya Minta (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) (Eden Prairie, Minn.), but the visitors closed the set by scoring six of the final nine points to take a one-set lead.
Four kills from sophomore Abbey Gitter helped Green Bay take an early 9-4 lead in the second set and hiked its lead to 10-5 after a kill by sophomore Kelly Mischler. The visitors then finished the set with a 15-8 scoring drive as it claimed a 2-0 margin entering the break.
Gitter struck again in the beginning of the third set as she recorded three kills to help the Phoenix post an early 5-2 lead that was capped off by another Garrow service ace. CSU responded by scoring five of the next eight points to close its deficit to 8-7 following a Minta service ace, but Green Bay later received four kills from senior Holly Visser and three kills from sophomore Alison Bohnen as part of a set-closing 17-5 run to end the match.
Clark and Minta paced Chicago State throughout in the match on both the offensive and defensive ends. Minta posted her second straight double-double as she posted 23 assists and 10 digs on the night, while Clark recorded a season-high nine kills and added nine digs. Senior Niena Posey (Chicago, IL/Lincoln College) (Chicago Heights, Ill.) contributed a season-best six kills to go along with two blocks for the Cougars.
Green Bay was led by Gitter, who finished the contest with a match-high 13 kills and a .765 hitting clip, while Visser added 12 kills for the Phoenix. Junior Whitney Schott posted a match-best 39 assists, senior Nikki Hintze and freshman Carmen Leitermann each recorded three block assists, and Garrow tallied match highs of 13 digs and five service aces.
The Cougars return to Great West Conference play this Saturday afternoon as they travel east to battle NJIT with the first serve set for 1 p.m.
~CSU~
