Oct. 27, 2001

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - Karis Day collected 17 kills to help Wright St. break UWM's nine-match winning streak with a 30-23, 30-26, 31-29 victory Saturday in Dayton.

Tari Boutin had 16 kills and Laura Dallenbach added 11 to lead the Panthers (13-6, 9-2 Horizon League), who dropped into a second-place tie with the Raiders (18-4, 9-2).

UWM appeared poised to get itself back in the match in the third game after dropping the first two games of the match. The Panthers scored seven straight points to turn a 17-15 deficit into a 22-17 lead. But, Wright St. worked itself all the way back, tying the match at 26-all. The match would be tied again at 27 and 28. UWM missed out on a game-point opportunity at 29-28, and the Raiders closed out the game and the match with kills by Liza Osterhage and Andrea Voss.

"It just seemed like we played against a team that wanted it more than my team wanted it today," head coach Kathy Litzau said. "Their defense was awesome. They were able to transition off a lot of great defensive plays and get kills that really deflated us."

Wright St. grabbed control of game one early on. The Raiders built a 7-3 lead before expanding the advantage to 13-6. UWM used a pair of Wright St. errors to pull within 15-9, but the Raiders again pushed the advantage to 22-13, forcing a Panther timeout. UWM did get back to within 23-17 following two blocks from Lindsey Spoden. But, Wright St. pushed the lead back to 28-18 and cruised to the finish.

In game two, the Raiders again grabbed an early advantage, leading 11-6 and forcing another Panther timeout. UWM scored three straight following the timeout and eventually tied the game at 15. But the Panthers would never gain the lead, as two Wright St. service aces and a UWM service error helped push the lead to 23-19. UWM would get no closer than two points the rest of the way.

Wright St. won the battle in most statistical categories, outhitting the Panthers .203 to .167, collecting eight service aces to just three for UWM and tallying 10 blocks to eight for the Panthers.

"We were really scrambling off of their serve in a lot of situations," Litzau said.

The Panthers return to action Tuesday night, visiting Valparaiso in a non-conference contest. UWM then returns home Friday and Saturday, hosting Cleveland St. and Youngstown St.