In a
nip-and-tuck battle at the Athletics-Recreation Center on Wednesday evening,
Valparaiso came out on the winning end over preseason Horizon League favorite
Milwaukee, 3-2 (25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 27-29, 15-12) to remain in a tie for first
place in the league.
“This
was a really important win for us tonight,” said Crusader head coach Carin Avery. “The way we clawed back to get into the
fourth set, but not coming up with the win, can be a big momentum shift in your
opponent’s favor. But even though we
struggled at the beginning of the fifth set, I was happy with the way we were
able to get key points at the end, as we did in all three sets yesterday. I definitely don’t think we played excellent
volleyball, but anytime you can earn a win in this league, you take it.”
The
decisive fifth set saw Milwaukee make the first
big run thanks to some Valpo errors, as with the score tied at four, the
Crusaders committed two attack errors, a service error and miscommunication on
a Panther serve leading to a UWM service ace to put Milwaukee up 8-5. The Crusaders fought right back however, as
kills by Tara Diebler (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) and Angie
Porché (Lynwood, Ill./Thornton
Fractional South) went along with a pair of Milwaukee errors in a 4-0 spurt to put Valpo
ahead 9-8.
The
Panthers got kills on each of the next two points to pull back ahead at 10-9,
but Porché picked up terminations on two of the next three plays to keep Valpo
in the set at 11-11. A UWM error was
followed by a kill to knot up the frame at 12 apiece, but again Porché stepped
up, tallying her fourth kill of the set to put the Crusaders ahead for good. Katie
Layman (LaPorte, Ind./New Prairie) recorded a kill for the penultimate
point of the match, and Valpo would need just one match point, as Porché closed
out her spectacular fifth set with a service ace.
A 14-4
run in the opening set was the key to Valpo’s victory in the frame, as after
trailing 8-6, the Crusaders were able to pull ahead by eight points at
20-12. Katie Britton (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian) and Jenny
Pokorny (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) each tallied
three kills during the spurt, while Diebler and Porché added a pair
apiece. But in a scene reminiscent of
the night before, once Valpo got set point, Milwaukee reeled off four straight kills to
close within 24-23. However, just like
Tuesday night, the Crusaders were able to get the key point when it counted, as
a kill by Amy Groesbeck (Wheaton, Ill./North)
closed the opener.
The
second set went Milwaukee’s
way start-to-finish, as the Panthers held Valpo to .000 hitting during the
frame to knot up the match at one heading into intermission. The third frame looked to similarly be favoring
Valpo, as Groesbeck tallied four kills and Diebler three to help propel the
Crusaders to a quick 18-9 advantage. The
Panthers nearly fought all the way back, however, going on an 11-3 run of their
own to cut the Valpo lead to 21-20. The
Crusaders scored the next two points, quickly answered by two straight from Milwaukee to make it
23-22 Valpo. But Diebler stepped up to
close the frame, recording a kill and then combining with Pokorny on a block to
give Valpo a 2-1 lead.
Milwaukee held the lead most of the way in
a tight fourth set that featured 13 ties and five lead changes. While the Crusaders never led in the latter
half of regulation, they never trailed by more than three points either,
hanging within striking distance until they could put together a spurt. That run came trailing 21-18, as Diebler and
Britton picked up kills to go with a UWM error to tie the frame at 21. Milwaukee
put up the next two points, but Valpo answered back with kills by Diebler and
Porché to make it 23-all.
UWM
earned set point chances on each of the next three opportunities, at 24-23,
25-24, and 26-25, but Valpo held off the Panthers each time, as a Milwaukee
error kept the Crusaders alive once and Porché kills resulting in tie scores
each of the next two times. Britton
registered a kill at 26-all to give Valpo its first match point, but the
Panthers tallied back-to-back kills, and a block sealed the fourth set
Milwaukee’s way and sent the match the distance.
Both
squads got standout performances on the defensive side of the ball, as Valpo
narrowly out-dug Milwaukee,
102-101, while the Panthers tallied 15 blocks to the Crusaders’ 11. Pokorny registered 24 digs, by far a career
high in the category, to go along with 13 assists, six kills and four blocks. Taylor
Root (Jenison, Mich./Jenison) also picked up 24 digs to share team-high
honors. Porché added 18 digs, Kim Bukowski (Waukesha,
Wis./West) chipped in 17 digs and Andrea Balsis (Benton Harbor, Mich./Coloma)
also reached double figures with ten.
“A
couple weeks ago, we really were struggling on the defensive end, and over the
last couple weeks, Jenny has had some great practices for us and been one of
our best defenders,” said Avery. “We
definitely wanted to find a way to get her on the court more often. Against certain teams, having her in the
front row attacking helps keep the opposing block guessing a bit more, because
we have three hitters up front. So it’s
been nice that she’s playing at a level where we can keep her in the front
attacking, have her in the back defensively, yet still be able to have Kim run
our offense as the setter.”
Diebler
led both the Crusader effort at the net, tallying a season-best seven blocks,
and offensively, picking up 16 kills, 12 of which came in the final three
sets. Britton and Porché each recorded
14 kills as well, with the latter recording her third straight
double-double. Bukowski handed out 40
assists on the night, also registering a double-double and moving her with 67
helpers of the 3,000-assist milestone for her career.
Milwaukee (5-12, 2-4 Horizon) received a
match-high 31 digs from Lauren Felsing, as the Panthers also boasted five
players in double figures in the category.
Natalie Schmitting registered 15 kills and eight blocks, while Maddie
Sueppel tallied 15 kills and seven blocks.
Kellye Zaporski picked up 48 assists and also recorded 21 digs for the
Panthers.
“This Milwaukee team is a very
good team, despite its record, and when they sort things out, I think they’ll
still be one of the top teams in the league,” said Avery. “I thought we definitely did a lot better tonight
in the blocking department tonight against them, and it helped a ton, as we
definitely struggled finding ways to get kills.
Our blocking and the strong defensive effort around it was the reason we
were able to win tonight.”
Valparaiso (11-6, 5-1 Horizon) travels to the Windy City
for a pair of league matches this weekend.
The first comes on Saturday afternoon, as the Crusaders take on
Loyola. First serve is scheduled for 4
p.m., and all the action can be seen live on the Horizon League Network. Links for the HLN video, as well as live
stats, will also be available through www.valpoathletics.com.