Sept. 13, 2002

Box Score

CHICAGO - Oregon used fast starts in games three and four to claim a 30-25, 26-30, 30-19, 30-22 win over UWM Friday night in the opening match of the Blue Demon Invitational at the DePaul Athletic Center.

UWM (1-6) never led in either game three or game four after leading most of game one and winning game two.

Karen Fruit equaled a career-high with 18 kills while Molly McNab tied a school record for a four-game match with six service aces. Lindsey Spoden again approached a triple-double, recording eight kills to go with 11 digs and 33 assists. Larissa Cattanach and Sarah Potts added 11 kills apiece for the Panthers.

Lindsay Closs had 19 kills to lead the Ducks (7-3), who were the first Pac 10 opponent UWM has ever faced. Kelly Russell added 13 kills and Amanda Porter added 12 for Oregon, which hit .294 for the match.

"I was very pleased with games one and two and then I just felt like we backed off," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "Our serving got a little bit easier and our shots got more obvious. Certainly Oregon was a very aggressive middle attacking team, because all three of their players in double figures were middles."

In game one, UWM built an early 11-7 advantage on the strength of strong attacking from Fruit and a pair of service aces from McNab. And, after the Ducks fought back to tie the match at 13, it was another Fruit kill that gave UWM the lead again at 14-13. The lead eventually grew back to 19-16, but the Ducks then took control, grabbing the advantage for good at 22-21. A Rachel Kuebbing kill kept UWM within 23-22 and another Fruit kill narrowed the Duck lead to 25-23, but Oregon scored 14 of the final 20 points of the game to claim the win.

Neither team could gain control early in game two, with the Panthers recovering from an early 8-5 deficit to grab a 10-9 lead. After ties at 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, the Panthers scored three-straight points for a 17-14 lead. UWM used back-to-back kills by Potts and Cattanach to grab a 20-16 advantage. Then, after Oregon rallied to tie the match at 23 apiece, two kills by Potts and an ace by Spoden helped push UWM's advantage back to 27-24. The Panthers closed out the game on a Kuebbing kill.

The Ducks took control of game three from the outset, building leads of 4-0, 9-3 and 13-5, forcing UWM to use both of its time outs. After trailing by as many as 11 points, the Panthers recovered to pull within 22-15 following a kill by Spoden and another ace by McNab. But the Ducks pulled away again, outscoring the Panthers 8-4 down the stretch.

In game four, the Ducks again took control early, building a 10-5 lead and keeping the advantage at between four and six points for much of the game. The Panthers rallied to within 19-15 on a Potts kill, but the Ducks struck back with three-straight points to seize control of the match. UWM would get no closer than five points the rest of the way as the Ducks claimed the match-clinching win.

The tournament continues Saturday for the Panthers, who face UNLV at noon and the host Blue Demons at 7 p.m.