Sept. 14, 2002

Box Score

CHICAGO - UNLV hit .318 for the match and placed four players in double figures in kills as the Rebels claimed a 30-21, 27-30, 30-26, 30-26 win over UWM Saturday afternoon on the second day of the Blue Demon Invitational at the DePaul Athletic Center.

Sarah Potts and Karen Fruit had 14 kills apiece to lead the Panthers (1-7), while Fruit added 16 digs. Larissa Cattanach had 10 kills while Rachel Kuebbing tallied a career-high eight kills. Lindsey Spoden again wound up just shy of a triple-double, totaling eight kills to go with 10 digs and 44 assists.

Tarin Keith had 19 kills to lead the Rebels (4-4), while Patricia Assuncao added 14.

"Certainly our fight is better, our hitting efficiency is better and we blocked better than our opponent. But we're just too streaky," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "With a young team we hope we can correct that before we start conference play.

"I was pleased all-in-all. I'm never pleased with a loss, but I felt like we did everything we could for the most part. UNLV beat us - we didn't hand them a win."

The Panthers were never really in game one, seeing an 8-8 tie broken by three-straight Rebel points. UWM did not recover from that rally, seeing the deficit grow to 24-15 following back-to-back service aces. The Panthers closed to within 27-17 following a Molly McNab ace, but UNLV closed out the game with three-straight points.

UWM looked like a different team in game two, bolting out to a 5-1 advantage following kills by Fruit and McNab. The Rebels rallied to within 7-5, but a block by Cattanach and a kill by Potts made it 10-5. UNLV then scored nine of the next 13 points to tie the game at 14 before UWM again bounced back, claiming a 22-19 lead on a block by McNab and Kuebbing. UNLV pulled back to within 27-26, but, following a timeout, the Panthers closed out the game on a kill by Cattanach and a block by Spoden and McNab.

The Panthers nearly dug their way out of a big hole in game three. Trailing 11-5 early and 21-10 at one point, UWM rallied twice. First, the Panthers scored six-straight points - including the final two on aces by Kuebbing - to pull within 21-16. Then, after the Rebels extended their lead back to 28-20, UWM scored six-straight points again to pull within 28-26. The final point in that run came on a block by McNab and Kuebbing. But UNLV scored the final two points of the game to close things out.

Game four was tight throughout, with ties at 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 and neither team holding more than a three-point edge for most of the game. But a late four-point run gave UNLV a 27-22 lead they would never relinquish.

The Panthers wrap up play in the tournament tonight at approximately 7 p.m. against the hosts from DePaul.