Oct. 1, 2002

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Sarah Potts collected a career-high 20 kills to lead UWM to a 30-24, 30-21, 30-18 win over DePaul Tuesday night at the Klotsche Center.

Potts added 13 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. She also hit .412 for the match. Larissa Cattanach added 11 kills while Karen Fruit pitched-in with nine to help lead UWM (6-10) to its fourth win in its last five outings.

Janet Cotter led DePaul (3-12) win seven kills. The Blue Demons hit just .067 for the match.

Potts took over the match in the third game, accounting for six of UWM's final seven points, the last coming on a service ace. She collected nine kills in the third game alone.

"I even said to her at the end 'serve an ace,'" UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "You see players that have it on certain nights and Sarah definitely had it tonight."

The match also marked the return of senior outside hitter Tari Boutin to the Panther lineup after missing the first 15 matches of the season with a broken finger. She had seven kills, four digs and two blocks in relatively limited playing time, adding spark to the UWM attack.

"She's been hitting in practice so we knew she had it in her tonight," Litzau said.

In game one, the Panthers built a 13-7 lead and never saw the Blue Demons get any closer than five points the rest of the way. The lead hit 18-9 on a kill by Fruit and moved to 19-9 following a DePaul attack error. The Blue Demons did close back to within 21-15, but the Panthers advantage grew back to 27-17 following another kill by Fruit and UWM closed out the game on a kill by Cattanach.

Game two was tight early on, with DePaul recovering from an early 12-6 deficit to close within 14-13 following a kill by Lara Marks. But UWM responded thanks to back-to-back kills by Potts and grew the advantage to 21-14 on a kill by Boutin. The Blue Demons pulled back to within 22-20 following a kill by Janet Goreham, but the Panthers scored eight of the final nine points of the game, closing out the frame on an attack error Goreham.

UWM controlled game three, building a 10-1 lead and never looking back. DePaul closed to within 11-9 at one point, but the Panthers responded with back-to-back kills from Potts and Boutin to rebuild the lead to 13-9. The lead grew back to 21-14 following another Potts kill, who took over the match from there. In addition to five kills down the stretch, she accounted for UWM's final point on a service ace.

The Panthers return to action Friday evening, welcoming Youngstown State to the Klotsche Center for a Horizon League contest. The match begins at 7 p.m.