Oct. 24, 2003

Box Score

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Rachel Kuebbing collected a career-high 15 kills to help the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee equal its best league start in school history with a 30-28, 30-23, 30-28 win over Youngstown State Friday night.

The Panthers (19-3, 8-0 Horizon) have won their first eight league matches, equaling their start in the 1999 season. UWM has also won nine-straight overall and remains one game ahead of UW-Green Bay in the race for the Horizon League regular season championship. The Phoenix won in five games at Cleveland State Friday night.

Kuebbing's 15 kills were part of a stellar UWM attack that saw the Panthers hit .318 for the match. Karen Fruit added 12 kills and Cheryl Hegemann 10. The attack was again balanced and deep, as Lindsey Spoden and Larissa Cattanach added seven kills and Melissa David had six.

Colleen Royer and Annie Buschur had 13 kills apiece to lead Youngstown State (8-12, 1-7), which has not beaten the Panthers since joining the Horizon League in 2001.

"We really had to earn it. Youngstown State was very good," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "Rachel entered the match late in the first game and really sparked us. She was very, very good tonight. And Cheryl had three aces late in game three and they were all great serves, legitimate aces. I was pretty impressed with how we fought back after seeing how Youngstown was going to fight."

Kuebbing, who did not start the match, recorded kills on five of the final eight points as the Panthers rallied from six points down in game one. Hegemann recorded three-straight service aces late in game three as UWM overcame a late, four-point deficit.

The Panthers had to fight from behind throughout game one. They fell down 14-8 following back-to-back service aces by Melanie Pounders and still trailed 20-16 after an attack error. After tying the game at 24, the Panthers again fell behind as YSU scored three-straight points for a 27-24 edge. But UWM responded with five-straight points for a 29-27 lead and, after Youngstown fought off one game point, a service error by the Penguins gave UWM the game-one win.

UWM had a much easier time of it in game two, bolting to a 10-5 lead following a kill by Cattanach before extending the advantage to 17-10 on a kill by Kuebbing. It was 22-13 UWM after back-to-back kills by Fruit and YSU would never get any closer than five points the rest of the way. A kill by Spoden and an ace by Cattanach closed out the game.

Game three was tight throughout, with 10 ties and six lead changes. YSU appeared to take control late in the game, building a 25-21 lead following a kill by Lori Lyman. It was 26-22 after a UWM attack error, but the Panthers rallied from there. After a kill by Kuebbing pulled UWM within 27-26, the three-straight service aces by Hegemann gave the Panthers a 29-27 lead. A Kuebbing kill then closed out the game and the match for the Panthers.

UWM returns to action Saturday afternoon, playing at Cleveland State.