Dec. 6, 2002

Box Score

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Molly O'Brien had 28 kills and sixth-ranked Northern Iowa survived a furious rally to claim a 30-18, 30-15, 26-30, 30-27 win over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship in front of a sellout crowd of 2,051 in the West Gym on the UNI campus.

Northern Iowa, seeded fourth nationally in the tournament, will play Missouri in a second round match Saturday at 6 p.m. The Tigers, ranked 20th in the nation, beat Northwestern in four games in the first match Friday night.

UNI (33-2) won for the 59th-straight time at home, the third-best streak in NCAA history.

Sarah Potts had 15 kills and Tari Boutin 12 for the Panthers (20-14), who were making their fifth-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament but had to play the nation's sixth-ranked team for the second-straight year. Last year, UWM fell in three games to sixth-ranked Wisconsin.

UWM looked out of synch in dropping the first two games of the match, but rallied with an impressive win in game three and led 26-25 in game four before UNI came back to avoid the upset.

"I certainly wish the match could have started with games three and four," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "Everything about us was just slow in those first two games. That's not how we have been playing the last month-and-a-half."

The Panthers' rally was sparked by Potts, who had just two kills in the first two games but collected 13 in the final two games.

"I was really uptight in those first two games," Potts said. "I made a decision after the second game that if we want to win or make this a good match, I needed to pick it up and play."

UWM put up a valiant fight in the third game and it paid off down the stretch. The Panthers built an early 3-1 lead and, after the lead changed hands four times, UWM claimed a 12-11 lead on a UNI error. Eventually, UNI grabbed a 19-18 lead and pushed it to 25-23 following a UWM error. But the Panthers rallied from there, tying the game at 25 on a Boutin service ace and grabbing the lead on a Potts kill. UNI tied the game at 26 on a service error, but UWM would not allow them to score again in the game.

The Panthers took the lead for good on a Potts kills and pushed the lead to 28-26 on another Potts kill. Following a furious rally that included a flat-handed dig by Potts, UWM made it 29-26 on a block by Larissa Cattanach and Potts before closing out the game on a kill by Cattanach. UWM hit .387 in the game and Potts had a team-high four kills.

Northern Iowa grabbed the lead early in game four and held a 14-10 advantage following a Shari Vermeer kill. But the Panthers rallied, using a 5-0 run to grab a 16-15 lead. Potts had three kills and a solo block during the run, which also included a Fruit kill. UWM actually led by as many as two points before UNI rallied thanks to back-to-back kills by O'Brien, plus a Panther error, for a 21-20 lead. The game stayed tight from there, with Northern Iowa leading 24-23 and 25-24 but UWM rallying for back-to-back points on kills by Potts and Cattanach for a 26-25 edge. Northern Iowa had one final rally in them, though, scoring four-straight points for a 29-26 edge and match point. The key point came on an extended rally that ended with a tip kill by UNI setter Jill Arganbright. After a Potts kill made it 29-27 but a final O'Brien kill ended the game and the match.

"We were really tight in those first two games but we really came back relaxed in game three and played our game," junior Lindsey Spoden, who had seven kills and 39 assists, said.

"We were approaching quicker and just being more physical," Litzau said. "We were more disciplined with our block and we started digging some balls. We made it too easy for Northern Iowa in those first two games."

In the end, the All-American O'Brien was too much for UWM to overcome. She had 10 kills in the fourth game alone.

"We made some adjustments on her throughout the match, but as you saw, I don't think it matters who you have blocking Molly O'Brien," Litzau said.

UNI broke open game one after a tight start. UNI actually built an early 10-5 advantage before UWM rallied, pulling within 11-9 on a kill by Karen Fruit. The Panthers weren't done rallying, though, pulling within 11-10 on a Rachel Kuebbing kill and tying the game at 11 on a Northern Iowa hitting error. After a UNI point, the Panthers again tied the match at 12 on another Kuebbing kill, but UNI then scored 10 of the next 11 points in the game to build a 22-13 lead. UWM rallied to within 23-16 on back-to-back kills by Lindsey Spoden, but the lead reached double figures at 26-16 on a UWM error and UNI then closed out the game by scoring the final three points.

Northern Iowa hit .345 in the first game compared to just .000 for UWM. UNI also had six blocks in the game and forced 12 Panther hitting errors.

UNI wasted little time in gaining control of game two, scoring the first four points to force a UWM timeout. The Panthers pulled to within 5-2 on a Potts kill before UNI rattled off six-straight points for an 11-2 edge. UWM could never really recover from there, pulling within 11-4 at one point and, after the lead hit 11 points, rallying to within 17-8 on a block by Boutin. But UNI finished with a flurry, scoring the final six points of the game to claim the easy win. Northern Iowa hit .500 in the second game while committing just three errors.

UWM returns nine of 12 letterwinners and five of seven starters for next season.