Oct. 2, 2004

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

MILWAUKEE - Karen Fruit had 26 kills as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee used a strong overall effort to beat Loyola, 30-28, 30-27, 19-30, 30-25, Saturday at the Klotsche Center, moving past the Ramblers into first place in the Horizon League.

Fruit posted her second-straight 20-plus-kill outing in league play and hit .426 for the match while consistently putting the ball away late in each game the Panthers won.

Leanne Felsing also posted big numbers for the second-straight night, collecting 15 kills and 18 digs, both career highs. Sarah Moore added 10 kills and four blocks as the Panthers (7-6, 3-0 Horizon) won for the third-straight time.

Nichol Amberg led the Ramblers (11-4, 3-1) with 17 kills. Four other players reached double figures in kills for Loyola, which owned a win earlier this season over ninth-ranked Illinois and entered Saturday's match in first place.

After Loyola got back in the match win a convincing win in game three, Fruit lifted the Panthers in game four. She tallied 12 kills in the fourth frame alone, sparking the Panthers to a comfortable 17-9 lead and eventually the match win.

"She made a decision in the fourth game to be more aggressive," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "It looked like in game three we lost our legs. We took a lot of swings Friday night and perhaps we were tired. But, Karen helped us get back up again after we had gotten down and it's a great sign to get that kind of senior leadership for this young team."

The Panthers claimed each of their game wins in similar fashion, building leads and then hanging on over the final few points.

In game one, UWM led 27-22 following a Loyola error before the Ramblers pulled within 29-28 on a kill by Amberg. But, the Panthers rebounded to seal things on a kill by Cheryl Hegemann. In game two, the Panthers lead was 25-22 and grew to 29-25 in a kill by Fruit. Loyola scored the next two points to put more pressure on UWM, only to see a kill by Fruit close things out. The game-four win came after the Panthers led 17-9 and 21-14. The Ramblers pulled within 21-18 on a kill by Katie Henry and were still within 24-21 on a kill by Keily Zins. But the Panthers hung tough once more, using two more kills by Fruit and kills by Felsing, Moore and Melissa Lange to seal the win.

"It could have gotten away," Litzau said. "Loyola helped us a bit with some errors, too, but in the fourth game we were much more in control. We stopped making the dumb errors we had made in the third game."

Litzau was also thrilled with the spark provided by the defense of Felsing, emerging as a stellar all-around player despite her college career being just 13 matches old.

"Again, Leanne's defense - she goes after balls like there's no tomorrow. That is so inspiring to everyone else and, when others see that, they start doing the same thing. We fought hard to keep the ball off the floor."

The Panthers now return to the road for four-straight Horizon League contest. This Friday UWM plays at Wright State before heading to Butler Saturday.