Oct. 13, 2007
Final Stats
Green Bay, Wis. - After losing the first two games, Loyola (5-16, 2-7 Horizon) roared back to claim a 3-2 (22-30, 21-30, 33-31, 30-25, 15-8) win over Green Bay this afternoon at the Kress Center in Green Bay, Wis. The win was the first road win of the season for the Ramblers and secured a sweep of the season series with the Phoenix.
"What a great win for us," said head coach Marcie Bomhack. "I could not be more proud of our team and the fight and perseverance that we have had all year finally payed dividends in the result. Dana's stat line speaks for itself but the contribution that we got from Colleen Francis was big for us today. To come in during the third game and play as well as she did was a huge boost for us. I think that the momentum that we gained from this win is something that we can build on as we go through the second half of our Horizon League schedule."
Loyola jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the decisive fifth game and used a late run to take command. The Phoenix pulled within a point, 3-2, before consecutive Dana VanDiggelen kills boosted the lead back to three, 5-2. Green Bay regained its footing and managed to pull even at 7-7 on a service ace. A huge block from Colleen Francis and Sarah Singer pushed the Ramblers back in front and kick-started a 5-0 run that made it a 12-7 game. Francis, who had not served all season, fired up a pair of aces in the run. After the teams traded points to 13-8, a pair of Phoenix hitting errors accounted for the last two points as the Ramblers won their first five-game match of the season after dropping their first four.
With its back to the wall in game three, Loyola came out swinging and took a 7-4 lead after a Ceci Mattei kill and a Phoenix error. Green Bay managed to chip away and finally drew even at 10 but the Ramblers wouldregain the lead and managed to keep their nose in front to the midway point, taking a 15-13 lead on another Mattei kill. The Phoenix managed to right itself and scored the next four points to take a 17-15 lead and setup a stirring battle to the end. A Singer kill and two Phoenix errors gave LU?an 18-17 lead and the Ramblers still held a 25-24 lead before the hosts rattled off four straight points to grab a 28-25 lead and push Loyola to the brink. However, the Ramblers showed some fight, using a Craig kill, a bad set and a Phoenix hitting error to force a 28-all tie. A ball-handling error gave Green Bay a match point but a service error killed that off and a hitting error gave Loyola a 30-29 lead and a game point. The teams exchanged the next three points to get to 31-31, with Green Bay's Abby Bergsma killing off both LU game points, before the Ramblers got the break they needed, using an attack error to get to their third game point and finally closing out the frame with a block from Mattei and Colleen Francis.
Loyola played game four with the same tenacity, however Green Bay was able to snatch the upper-hand with a 4-0 run that turned an 11-10 deficit into a 14-11 lead. The margin peeked at four (19-15) before the Ramblers began their comeback. Kills from Craig and Singer and a solo stuff from Craig made it 19-18 and, after a Green Bay timeout, the Ramblers tacked on three more points, the last two coming on consecutive aces from Rees, to take a 21-19 lead. Loyola extended the lead to 24-20 after kills from Zins and VanDiggelen and kept pushing, using kills from the same two players moments later to seize command with a 27-22 lead. Green Bay would get no closer than three the rest of the way and kills from Francis and Singer sealed the 30-25 win.
Game one was tight through the early stages before Green Bay was able to gain some breathing room. The teams exchanged the first 16 points of the match to get to 8-8 and a VanDiggelen kill forged the 12th tie of the frame at 13-all. The hosts seized command of the game with a 7-1 run to open up a 20-14 lead and the Ramblers would get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
A 5-0 Phoenix run turned a 3-3 tie into an 8-3 lead as the hosts played from in front throughout game two. The lead ballooned to 16-7 before kills from Craig and Singer helped Loyola stem the tide. However, the Ramblers faced a 22-12 deficit before making a mini-run. A Zins kill was followed by a solo block by Singer and a tandem block from Mallory Curran and Mindy Rees as LU?pulled within 22-15 to prompt a Green Bay timeout. However, Green Bay was able to side-out coming out of the break and were never headed in taking a 2-0 lead to intermission.
VanDiggelen finished with 18 kills and eight digs to lead the Ramblers. Seniors Keily Zins (13 kills, 19 digs) and Melissa Craig (12 kills, five blocks) also reached double figures.
