Sept. 30, 2011
Box Score
CHICAGO - Cat Languido dug a career-high 34 balls but Loyola saw a 2-0 lead go by the boards as Green Bay rallied for a five-set (22-25, 24-26, 25-13, 25-22, 15-3) win over the Ramblers tonight at the Halas Sports Center. Loyola drops to 3-10 (0-4 Horizon) while the Phoenix evens its League record, improving to 6-10 (2-2).
"It was quite a match tonight but it is certainly a disappointing outcome," said head coach Chris Muscat. "We are building and we executed our game plan well in the first two sets. We have talked so much about closing out sets better, and we did that pretty well early tonight, now we have to learn how to close out matches."
Loyola scored the first three points of the match and played the entire set from the lead. A Mary Kate Styler kill and a Green Bay error helped the home team open up an 11-7 lead and a pair of Laura Purcell kills extended the Ramblers' margin to five, 15-10. Loyola kept pushing and a block from Styler and Libby Bresser capped a 5-0 LU spurt that gave the Ramblers a commanding 21-13 advantage. Green Bay made a late charge, getting as close as 24-22, before a Phoenix service error gave the Ramblers the opening set.
The visitors opened the second set hot, scoring four of the first five points, but Loyola would rally, pulling even at 7-7 after kills from Melissa Hastings and Purcell. Purcell's serve helped LU move out to an 11-8 lead but Green Bay quickly rallied back, scoring the next four points to regain the lead. Two Styler kills later gave the Ramblers a 16-13 edge and a Hastings kill later made it a 20-15 lead. The Phoenix hung in there, eventually pulling even at 22-all on an Abbey Gitter kill, and actually had a set point after a Monica Anderson kill gave it a 24-23 lead. However, a service error and consecutive attack errors gave the Ramblers a 26-24 win and a 2-0 lead in the match heading into intermission.
The third set was all Green Bay from the opening serve as the Phoenix raced out to an 11-1 lead. Five straight Loyola points pulled the home team within five (17-12) but Green Bay answered with six unanswered points of its own and stayed alive with a 25-13 win.
Loyola found itself in an 8-4 hole in the fourth set before two Styler kills highlighted a six-point run on the serve of Bresser to take a 10-8 lead. The teams battled back-and-forth throughout the middle stages of the set but it was Green Bay that was finally able to string some points together, reeling off five in a row to grab a 21-17 lead. Loyola pushed back, pulling within a point (22-21) on a Vicki Wrobel ace, but the Ramblers could not get over the hump as Green Bay forced a fifth set with a 25-22 win.
The final set was all Phoenix after a block from Styler and Bresser gave Loyola the opening point. Sabrina Marounowski served up nine straight points as Green Bay grabbed a 10-1 lead and the Phoenix cruised from there.
Purcell tied her season-high with 15 kills to lead the Ramblers, who also received 12 kills from Styler and nine from Bresser. Languido's 34 digs surpassed her previous career-high of 31 set last year and bettered her previous season-best of 20.
Loyola returns to action on Tuesday night when it battles Youngstown State at the Halas Sports Center at 7 p.m.
