Sept. 8, 2001

Stats

MILWAUKEE - Kate Engel had 16 kills to lead a balanced DePaul attack to a 30-27, 30-17, 31-29 win over UWM in the championship match of the Powerade Panther Invitational Saturday night at the Klotsche Center.

The loss for UWM was the first in its last 13 matches in the invitational and just the Panthers' second at home in their last 48 matches.

UWM (3-3) lost a 22-14 advantage in game one and never seemed to recover.

"It's very disappointing," head coach Kathy Litzau said. "We didn't have the fight to finish. It seemed like we were waiting for them to hand it to us, and DePaul certainly wasn't going to do that."

Laura Dallenbach, who along with Chrissy Schurla was named to the all-tournament team, had 15 kills to lead the Panthers.

"Laura played a really good match, but we can't give her the ball all the time," Litzau said. "We needed other people to step up for us and no one really did that until the end."

Melissa Nordine had 13 kills for DePaul (6-0) and was named to the all-tournament team along with setter Kara Jakusz, who had 46 assists. Lara Marks was named the tournament MVP.

In the first game, DePaul went on a 10-1 run to grab a 24-23 advantage. UWM rallied for ties at 24, 25 and 26, but the Blue Demons scored four of the final six points for the win.

In game two, UWM was never in it after grabbing an early 2-0 advantage. DePaul built leads of 10-4, 16-8 and 21-10 in cruising to the win. Litzau went to her bench often in the second game, playing 12 players in the match.

"I was just looking for anyone who could give us some energy," she said.

Game three was tight throughout, but the Panthers built a 27-24 advantage on the strength of a Tari Boutin kill. DePaul again rallied, though, winning the game and the match on a solo block by Marks.

The Panthers return to action Tuesday night, welcoming Marquette to the Klotsche Center for a 7 p.m. start.