Sept. 7, 2001

MILWAUKEE - Chrissy Schurla had 11 kills and Laura Dallenbach added 10 in leading a balanced UWM attack past Southeast Missouri State 30-19, 30-15, 31-29 Friday night on the first day of the Powerade Panther Invitational.

The matchup pitted a pair of teams that appeared in last year's NCAA Tournament. In fact, the Othakians (1-3) reached the second round of the tournament last year.

On Friday night, the Panthers (2-2) dominated from the outset. Six Panthers had at least five kills and UWM recorded 10 service aces in the three-game match.

With her 11 kills, Schurla became just the fourth Panther to reach 1,000 kills in a Division I career. She now has 1,002. Meanwhile, Dallenbach's five service aces give her 98 in her career - the most ever by a Panther in Division I play.

In game one, UWM turned a 9-8 advantage into a 20-13 lead following a kill by Dallenbach. The Othaks would pull within 20-15, but UWM scored 10 of the final 14 points of the game. In game two, the Panthers scored 14 of the final 19 points of the game to pull away from a 16-10 advantage. Game three was a struggle for UWM, and the Panthers trailed 28-27 following an attack error by Larissa Cattanach. But, UWM rebounded thanks to kills by Robin Alt and Carly Allison and UWM won the match on a block by Alt and Schurla.

"I was very happy with Chrissy tonight," UWM coach Kathy Litzau said. "She wasn't happy with her blocking, but I thought she played pretty well all-around and especially offensively.

"In game three we would have liked things to be a little different, but I think Southeast Missouri had a lot to do with that," Litzau added. "I was certainly happy with our finish. Julie (Yankus), Robin and Carly all came off the bench in the third game and they all made significant contributions."

UWM hit .306 for the match while limiting SEMO to a .125 hitting percentage. UWM also recorded eight blocks and 37 digs.

In the first game of the Powerade Panther Invitational, DePaul (4-0) beat Drake (1-2) in four games, 30-25, 21-30, 30-15, 30-27. Lara Marks had 14 kills to lead the Blue Demons, who limited the Bulldogs to a .134 hitting percentage. Lacey Corcoran had 15 kills for Drake.

Saturday's schedule sends UWM against Drake at 11 a.m. while DePaul faces SEMO at 1 p.m. The evening session pits SEMO and Drake at 5 p.m. with DePaul and UWM squaring off at 7 p.m.