Sept. 22, 2001

Box Score

CHICAGO - Loyola grabbed an early advantage in the race for the Horizon League regular season title with a 30-28, 30-23, 23-30, 30-28 win over UWM Saturday afternoon in Chicago.

Laura Dallenbach recorded 19 kills and 17 digs to lead the Panthers (4-5, 1-1 Horizon League). Chrissy Schurla added 15 kills. Shari Davis led Loyola (4-5, 2-0 Horizon League) with 16 kills.

Loyola won the match in part because of 11 service aces, a key according to UWM coach Kathy Litzau.

"Their serve killed us," Litzau said. "As soon as we had one bad pass off of a serve, we had two or three. We couldn't get them out of rotation.

"It's a loud gym and we had some miscommunication. We just backed off, and one play led to another. Our team was just a little bit out of sorts today."

Loyola wrapped up a win in the battle of the top two teams in the Horizon League's pre-season poll by coming from behind in game four. UWM built a 20-15 advantage, but the Ramblers came back to tie the game at 25-25. The Panthers led for a final time at 26-25 on a Lindsey Spoden kill, but four straight Loyola points moved things to match point. UWM scored two straight points, but a Lauren Mikos kills landed just in to clinch the match for the Ramblers.

Loyola came from behind to win game one, rallying from a 20-13 deficit. After Loyola closed to within 23-20, UWM regained control with two Dallenbach kills, pushing the advantage to 25-20. The Ramblers then pulled within 27-26, with UWM again responding thanks to a Tari Boutin kill. But, Loyola scored the final four points to win the game.

In game two, the Ramblers never trailed. Loyola built an early 7-1 advantage, but UWM gradually responded, finally pulling to within 20-19 on a Dallenbach ace. Loyola then scored the next five points to build a 25-19 lead and the Ramblers were never seriously threatened from there.

It was UWM that came from behind in game three, overcoming early deficits of 6-1 and 11-6. UWM scored nine straight points to claim a 17-13 advantage, with six of the points coming on kills from Dallenbach. Loyola closed back to within 23-21, but UWM scored seven of the final nine points in the game to claim the win.

UWM returns to action Tuesday night, welcoming Marquette to the Klotsche Center. The match begins at 7 p.m.