Sept. 21, 2001

Box Score

CHICAGO - UWM rallied from a two-games-to-one deficit to capture a five-game win over UIC Friday night in the Horizon League opener for both teams. The game scores were 27-30, 30-21, 25-30, 30-24, 15-8.

Laura Dallenbach recorded her school-record 10th 20-20 performance, tallying 22 kills and 23 digs. Chrissy Schurla added 13 kills and Tari Boutin tossed in 10. Freshman Karen Fruit also added a career-high nine kills and three blocks off the bench. The win is UWM's 10th straight over UIC and its 45th league win in 49 matches.

"It's nice to win in five games on the road," head coach Kathy Litzau said. "It's a good feeling. UIC played very well. But we battled and got the 'W'."

In the decisive fifth game, UWM built an early 5-1 advantage and was never seriously threatened. A Boutin kill pushed the advantage to 12-7 and the Panthers (4-4, 1-0 Horizon League) captured the match behind two kills from Sarah Potts and a UIC hitting error.

In game one, UWM appeared to be in control, building a 13-9 advantage. But, UIC responded by scoring six of the next seven points to grab a 15-14 lead. The Flames never relinquished the advantage, leading by as many as six points and holding off a late Panther rally that saw UWM pull to within two points on five separate occasions.

The Panthers bounced back in game two, building an 18-8 advantage and easing to the win from there. Fruit recorded four kills and two blocks in the game to spark UWM. UIC rallied in game three, overcoming a 12-8 deficit to claim the win. The game produced 12 ties, with the Flames breaking the final tie at 22-22 with five straight points.

UWM controlled game four from the outset, building a 13-6 advantage early in the game. The Panthers led by as many as eight points at 25-17 before the Flames rallied for six straight points to pull within 25-23. But, UWM closed strong, scoring five of the final six points in the game - including the game-winner on a Boutin kill.

The Panthers, playing their second-straight match without injured middle blocker Larissa Cattanach, saw 10 players contribute in the winning effort.

"We had a lot of players going on and off," Litzau said. "With the makeup of our team right now, people are going to have to get used to that. Plus, with rally scoring, you don't always want to use a timeout but sometimes you need a break. There was some miscommunication sometimes."

One of the insertions into the lineup was Fruit, who saw the most extended playing time of her young career.

"I'm real happy with how she popped right in there," Litzau said. "She hasn't really even practiced that much in the middle. But she's an athlete and she just jumped out there and played."

UWM returns to action Saturday afternoon, squaring off with Loyola. The match in Chicago begins at 4 p.m.