Nov. 14, 2003

Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Larissa Cattanach had 14 kills and seven blocks as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee clinched the outright Horizon League regular season championship with a 30-15, 22-30, 22-30, 30-23, 15-5 win over Butler Friday evening at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

It is the fifth league title for the Panthers (23-4, 12-1 Horizon) under head coach Kathy Litzau, though it's the first outright crown since the 1999 season. The win also clinched the top seed in next week's Horizon League Volleyball Championship for UWM, which will be aiming for its sixth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

Cattanach was one of four Panthers to reach double figures in kills, as Karen Fruit added 12 kills with Sarah Potts and Rachel Kuebbing each contributing 11. Senior Robin Alt led the Panthers defensively with 24 digs, while Potts had 19, Fruit 17 and Lindsey Spoden 16. Spoden also had seven kills and 53 assists while hitting .333 for the match. Cattanach added seven blocks for UWM.

Areal Bienemy had 18 kills and Kali Carter 14 for Butler (18-11, 8-5), which lost for the sixth-straight time to UWM in Indianapolis.

The Panthers took control of the deciding fifth game quickly, hitting .643 while committing just one error. The game was an appropriate conclusion for a match marked by large margins of victory for each team in their winning games. UWM dominated games one, four and five with Butler controlling games two and three.

"No game was even close. Either they were really good or we were really good, but neither team was good at the same time," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "Our defense was great, actually, with 93 digs and 10 blocks. Offensively, Larissa and Rachel really stole the show."

UWM closes out the regular season Saturday afternoon at Wright State. The match begins at 3 p.m. eastern time in Dayton.