CLEVELAND – Four Norse recorded double-digit kills Friday night as the Northern Kentucky University volleyball team defeated Green Bay, 3-1, in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals at Woodling Gym.

With the win, the Norse advance to the semifinal round on Saturday where they will face No. 1 seed Cleveland State at 3 p.m. in a match set to air on ESPN3.

The trio of Keyaira Lankheit, Keely Creamer and Jayden Julian paced the Norse attack with 12 kills apiece. Creamer led with a .409 clip as the Norse hit .207 as a team.

Freshmen Lankheit and Turner neared career marks, both falling one kill shy of a match-high with Turner posting 11 kills including five in the opening set.

Mel Stewart led the Norse defense with 20 digs while freshman Haley Libs came close to a double-double with 13 digs and eight kills. Additionally, Libs and Lankheit ended the match tied with a game-high five blocks each.

Green Bay was paced by Jessica Wolf with 19 kills while Jillian Bauer posted 22 digs.

After trading points to start Set 1, the Norse and Phoenix were locked in a 9-9 tie before the Norse took off on a 9-2 run. The run consisted of five-straight points that included a pair of Turner kills. NKU held Green Bay to a .064 clip in the opening frame as it cruised to a 25-15 victory.

Set 2 got off to a similar start with the teams waging a back-and-forth battle with neither leading by more than two points until the Norse owned a brief three-point edge at 15-12. The Norse began to pull away and lead 19-15, but Green Bay recovered to stay within close distance and tie the set at 20-all. The Norse served set point on two occasions, but the Phoenix fought for a 28-26 win.

Green Bay returned to the court with momentum, getting out to a 4-0 lead in Set 3. The Norse countered and took their first lead of the set after using a 7-1 run to gain a 9-7 advantage. NKU never relinquished its lead and sealed a 25-21 set 3 victory.

Trailing 14-13 in the fourth set, Lankheit delivered a trio of kills to help NKU ride a 7-2 run to lead, 20-16. Green Bay came back with six-straight points to regain the advantage, 23-21, before the Norse recovered to win the final four points of the match and take home a 25-23 win.

The Norse turn around to face the regular-season champions Cleveland State on Saturday. First serve is set for 3 p.m. More information on the Horizon League Championship including the bracket, schedule and ticket information can be found at the Championship Central page.

NORSE NOTES:

• Stewart issued her 13th 20-dig performance of the season and eighth of the last nine matches.
• The Norse improved to 5-0 all-time against Green Bay.
• Northern Kentucky has now advanced to its conference tournament semifinals in back-to-back years after taking on Lipscomb in the Atlantic Sun Conference Semifinals last season.