Oct. 17, 2003

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Karen Fruit and Larissa Cattanach had 13 kills apiece to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee past Wright State, 30-12, 30-27, 30-26, Friday night at the Klotsche Center.

The Panthers (17-3, 6-0 Horizon) have now won seven-straight matches, equaling their longest streak of the season, and remain atop the Horizon League standings.

The game was mainly a defensive battle, with UWM hitting .200 for the match and the Raiders hitting just .049. UWM also had 11 blocks and 70 digs.

Melissa David added seven kills and Rachel Kuebbing six for the Panthers, who also landed four players in double figures in kills. Fruit had 17 and Lindsey Spoden 16 to lead the way.

Tricia Naseman had 12 kills to lead the Raiders, while Allie Smerz led them defensively with 24 digs.

UWM had easy time of it in game one, recording its largest margin of victory in a league game since rally scoring was instituted two seasons ago. But Wright State (12-8, 3-3) made it competitive in games two and three as both teams saw the match turn sloppy.

"You expect to come back down a little bit, but unfortunately we came back too much," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "The rest of the match became who was going to make the least errors. It wasn't very pretty down the stretch."

UWM had no trouble in game one, building an early 8-2 advantage and never letting the Raiders any closer than five points the rest of the way. It was 14-7 Panthers when David took over, recording a kill to make it 15-7 before serving 11-straight points for UWM as the Panthers built a 24-7 lead. They then closed out the game on a kill by Sarah Moore and a Wright State error.

The Panthers had more trouble in game two, though they did jump out to a 10-5 lead following a kill by David. The lead was still 17-12 after a kill by Cattanach but Wright State rallied to tie the game at 23 on a kill by Alison Sipiorski and actually added two more points for a 25-23 lead. But UWM rallied, regaining the lead on a kill by Kuebbing before closing things out on a kill by Cattanach and a Raider error.

Game three was tight throughout, with 13 ties and seven lead changes. The Panthers made a run to try to take control, going up 17-14 on a kill by Kuebbing and 18-14 on a kill by David. But Wright State again rallied, tying the match at 25 on a Panther error. The match was still tied at 26 before UWM recorded one more push, closing out the match on a kill by David.

UWM and Butler play at 5 p.m. Saturday.