GREEN BAY, Wis. – Following a slow start in the opening set, the Northern Kentucky volleyball team recovered to win the next three in convincing fashion to claim a 3-1 win (14-25, 25-12, 25-10, 25-21) over Green Bay. NKU's offense featured a balanced attack that saw four player =s register double-digit kills and a fifth who was a single kill away.

The victory moves the Norse to 3-2 on the season, while the Phoenix dip to 2-5.

STAT LEADERS

·       Miranda Wucherer registered her second-straight triple double courtesy of 11 kills, 25 assists and 13 digs. Wucherer hit a blistering .444 in the match.

·       Abby Kanakry notched a team-leading 14 kills behind a .219 hitting percentage.

·       Kaelin Gentile continued her white-hot hitting streak, as the senior terminated at a .643 rate and finished with 10 kills.

·       Anna Brinkmann chimed in with a 10-kill, 10-dig double-double.

·       Ashton Terrill had a match high 16 digs and Peytton Bagwell helped NKU's cause with two solo blocks and four block assists.

·       Reilly Briggs finished one kill shy of providing Northern Kentucky with five players in double-digits.

FIRST SET SUMMARY

·       Eight-straight points from Green Bay turned a 4-3 advantage for the Phoenix into a nine point lead.

·       Northern Kentucky regrouped and responded with two 3-point runs to pull to 15-11 and force a GB timeout.

·       Coming out of the timeout, the Phoenix reeled off 4-unanswered tallies to regain control and roll to a 25-14 win in the set.

·       The Phoenix rode the arm of Alexandra Zakutney, who put down seven kills in the set as GB hit .364 with 14 total kills and just two errors.

·       The Norse terminated at a .054 clip and had seven errors, thanks to five total blocks by the Phoenix.

·       Wucherer led NKU with three kills, while Terrill had nine digs from the back row.

SECOND SET SUMMARY

·       Set No. 2 was a complete reversal of fortunes for the Norse, who used two big runs of the 4-0 and 5-0 variety to push ahead 9-1.

·       NKU put together two more 4-point runs and eventually closed out the stanza, 25-12.

·       Northern Kentucky hit a blistering .571 with 14 kills and just two errors in 21 attacks.

·       Kanakry had five kills for NKU and contributed one of the team's three aces in the stanza.

·       Green Bay struggled to terminate attacks, hitting just .095 with nine kills and seven errors.

THIRD SET SUMMARY

·       Green Bay won the first point only to see Northern Kentucky run off the next five and eventually extend out to an 8-3 lead.

·       The Norse pushed ahead 11-4, and then used five-unanswered to push the lead to a commanding 16-5 lead.

·       NKU tallied the last five points of the set as well, with Brinkmann capping it all off with back-to-back service aces.

·       NKU terminated .394 of its attempts, tallying 18 kills, while Green Bay managed a mere three kills and hit .000.

·       Wucherer and Brinkmann led the way with five kills apiece.

FOURTH SET

·       Set four started out with NKU claiming an early 5-2 advantage.

·       Green Bay kept things tight, not allowing the Northern Kentucky lead to grow to more than three until the Norse went on a 4-1 run to sneak ahead 14-9.

·       NKU ran the margin to six on several occasions and eventually went ahead by as many as nine.

·       However, the Phoenix didn't go away quietly, staving off six-straight match points before Kanakry ended the frame with a kill and 25-21 Norse win.

·       Kanakry put away six attacks in the frame, while Bagwell provided two solo blocks.

MATCH NOTES

·       Northern Kentucky finished with 58 total kills and hit .290 thanks to its balanced attack. While Green Bay drastically cooled off following its torrid opening set, it finished the match hitting .195 with 37 terminations.

·       NKU also led in total scoops, 56-43.

·       Following this afternoon's match, five Norse are now averaging at least 2.00 kills per set: Brinkmann (2.83), Briggs (2.80), Kanakry (2.78), Wucherer (2.44) and Gentile (2.35).

·       Today's triple-double is the sixth of Wucherer's career.

·       After missing Northern Kentucky's second and third matches of the season, Brinkmann has now played in three matches and registered double-doubles in all three. She has 23 total in her Norse career.

·       Gentile has been on fire for the Norse. In the last three matches she has averaged 3.17 kps on the strength of .365 hitting.

NEXT UP

NKU and GB will serve it up against on Tuesday afternoon at the Kress Center in Green Bay. The match is set for a 2 p.m. (ET)/1 p.m. (CT) start.

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