Sept. 17, 2004

Box Score

DALLAS - Beth Karasek had 18 kills to lead Southern Methodist University to a 30-21, 27-30, 30-15, 30-26 win over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Friday afternoon in the rescheduled Hurricane Ivan Sugar Bowl Classic.

Karen Fruit led the Panthers (4-3) with 17 kills and Leanne Felsing added 12, but UWM hit just .082 for the match.

The Panthers made it a contest by rallying from a big deficit to win game two. But SMU proved too much in the third and fourth games, limited the Panthers to -.140 hitting in game three and .062 hitting in game four.

Jacky Niederstadt added 15 kills and Kelly Larkan 14 for the Mustangs (5-2), who hit .204 for the match and tallied 13 blocks.

Jamie Gabrielson had 17 digs to lead the Panthers defensively, while Fruit and Felsing had 14 digs apiece to record double-doubles.

It looked like the Panthers may have turned the match in their favor with a game two comeback. UWM led early, jumping out to an 8-5 advantage following a block by Cheryl Hegemann and Melissa Lange. But the Mustangs rallied, scoring seven of the next eight points for a 12-9 edge. The lead grew to 17-11 on a kill by Larkan and was still 22-16 on another Larkin kill. SMU led 27-21 following a UWM error and appeared to have the game under control. But, instead, the Panthers scored the next nine points to win the game. Fruit had two kills and the Panthers had two blocks during the run, which was sparked by strong serving by Lange.

SMU recovered from dropping the second game to win the third easily and then hung on it the fourth frame.

In game three, the Mustangs built an early 6-2 lead and never gave it back. The lead hit 14-7 following a UWM error and reach 17-9 on an ace by Jeanette Evanco. The Panthers pulled within six at 19-13 on a Rachel Kuebbing kill but never got any closer. A Jackie Niederstadt block sealed the frame for the Mustangs.

The Panthers nearly overcame another deficit in game four to keep the match alive. SMU built a 15-9 lead early on and extended it to 18-11 on an ace by Jessica Mihm ace. The lead was still 27-22 following an SMU block when the Panthers started their rally. They pulled within 27-24 on an ace by Melissa David and within 27-25 on an SMU error. But the Mustangs finally closed out the game and the match on a kill by Larkan.

UWM controlled the first half of game one before seeing it slip away. The Panthers jumped out to a quick 7-4 lead following an ace by Kuebbing and still led 13-10 on a kill by Felsing. After SMU tied the game at 16, a Hegemann kill made it 17-16 in favor of the Panthers. But UWM would never lead again, as the Mustangs scored 14 of the final 18 points of the frame to claim the win.

In earlier tournament action, LSU rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to beat Miami (Fla.) in five games. The Panthers will play the Tigers at 5 p.m. today before facing the Hurricanes at 5 p.m. tomorrow.