Dec. 2, 1999
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team earned its first-ever NCAA game win tonight, but was not able to to win more, eventually dropping the match to Illinois, 3-1, in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship in Gainesville, Fla. The Panthers wrap up the 1999 season with a 25-4 overall overall record and an 11-1 record in the MCC. Illinois moves up to 17-10 on the season and will face the No. 4 Florida Gators in the second round of the tournament.
The Panthers kept pace with Illinois throughout the first three games, with the two teams exchanging points throughout most those games. In the first game, the teams remained neck and neck, with Illinois coming out on top, 15-13. In game two, the Panthers came out strong, out-hitting Illinois .352-. 267 and taking the game, 15-10. Game three proved to be no different than the first two with the teams exchanging points until Illinois ended up on top, 15-12. But in the final game, Illinois was the dominate team, with Illinois hitting .262 compared to the Panthers? .075 hitting percentage and winning the game, 15-6.
?I thought it was a very good match, except for the fourth game,? said head coach Kathy Litzau. ?We rode it the whole way. Both teams were strong. For our team, I thought that we fell apart a little bit. We lost points in spurts?we got stuck in some rotations and had a real hard time getting out of that. Illinois did a good job with their blocking scheme.
?Illinois was giving us the opporutnity and we werent? taking advantage of it at the right item,? Litzau continued. ?There were times when we were, but when it came down to the wire and when we needed it, we just gave it back to them.?
In spite of four Panthers with double-digit kills, only one Panther hit better than .300. Senior Ericka Malterer (Waupun, Wis.) led the Panthers with 19 kills and a .319 hitting percentage. She also had three assists and 10 digs. Sophomore Laura Dallenbach (Waterloo, Iowa) was right behind her with 18 kills and a team-leading 14 digs. Sophomore Julie Yankus (New Berlin, Wis.) and senior Sue Raschka (Chicago, Ill) each added 10 kills. Senior Katie Schneider (West Bend, Wis.) had 56 assists, six digs and four kills.
Schneider wraps up her Panther career as the top setter in school history, breaking her own career assists record with 5,276 career assists. Her 101 career service aces also tops the UWM record books, and her 1,179 career digs also sets a new UWM record.
Malterer added to her own career kills record, tallying 1,569 career kills. She is second in career digs behind Schneider with 1,169. Raschka ends her career second in all-time blocking with 257 career blocks and her 747 career kills puts her fourth in the record books.
