Oct. 26, 2004

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

MILWAUKEE - Leanne Felsing had 16 kills and Karen Fruit added 14 as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee scored a convincing 30-19, 30-21, 30-21 win over DePaul Tuesday night in a non-league match at the Klotsche Center.

Fruit also added 16 digs, sending her past 1,000 for her career. The Panthers (13-7) hit .311 for the match and were threatened only in the third game, when they rallied from seven points down early to wrap up their dominating win.

Janet Goreham led DePaul (10-14) with 11 kills, but the Blue Demons had 23 hitting errors and could never get on track.

UWM has now won nine of its last 10 matches.

"I thought we passed well, we served well and we played good defense," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "Mel (Melissa Lange) did a good job of distributing the ball and our hitting percentage was very good. We were very quick on offense. That formula will win."

UWM had an easy time of it in each of the first two games. In game one, the Panthers used a 7-1 run to break free from a 7-all tie and quickly pushed their lead to 20-10 on back-to-back kills by Felsing. DePaul could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way, and a kill by Fruit and a Blue Demon error wrapped up the frame for the Panthers.

In game two, it was a 10-2 run that broke open a close game for the Panthers. Three-straight errors by DePaul capped the run, giving UWM a 21-13 lead. After DePaul closed to within six at 26-20, two kills by Fruit, a kill by Felsing and a DePaul error finished things off for the Panthers.

The Panthers had to come from behind in game three. DePaul jumped out to an 11-4 edge and still led 16-11 on a UWM error. The Panthers stormed back from there, scoring 19 of the next 24 points. A 7-0 run gave UWM an 18-16 lead and the advantage moved to 21-18 on a Felsing kill. The lead grew to 29-20 following kills by Nicole Vilter, Cheryl Hegemann and Felsing and an ace by Fruit before another kill by Vilter closed things out.

"You really have to give that third game to the bench," Litzau said. "Cheryl and Nicole each came in and didn't make errors, which was our problem earlier in the game.

"I just like how we were down and you could just see the fight and determination. I don't know if we would have done that a month ago."

UWM returns to action this weekend, facing key road contests at Loyola Friday night and UIC Saturday night. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.