Oct. 6, 2006

Box Score |  Notes

CHICAGO - Courtney Ashley had 18 kills to lead three Ramblers in double figures as Loyola claimed a 30-24, 25-30, 30-28, 30-27 win over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Friday night at Alumni Gym.

Melissa David had 18 kills and Cheryl Hegemann added 17 for the Panthers (9-5, 3-1 Horizon), who lost a Horizon League regular season match for the first time since their trip to Loyola in September of 2005.

UWM never seemed to get on track against the Ramblers, who got 11 kills apiece from Melissa Craig and Keily Zins. The Panthers recorded 65 kills to 60 for the Ramblers, but UWM was hampered by 32 hitting errors, 12 service errors and five blocking errors.

Sarah Moore did add 10 kills for UWM while Becky Peters collected a season-high 25 digs, but it still was not enough to keep the Panthers from just their fourth league road loss in their last 29 road outings.

"Most of this season, when one person was off, someone else would step up. Tonight, everyone was inconsistent," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "Give credit to Loyola, they played good defense and kept the ball alive and made plays when they needed to. But, whenever it was close and we needed something, we just couldn't put it away.

After the two teams split the first two games, Loyola pushed hard in games three and four to claim the win.

The Ramblers pulled out a tight third game to reclaim the advantage in the match. UWM again fell behind thanks to a slow start, as Loyola quickly built a 5-0 lead and still led 11-8 after a block by Ashley and Craig. The Panthers took their first lead of the game at 14-13 on a Loyola error, but UWM would never lead by more than a point. Milwaukee's final lead came at 25-24 on a Lauren Felsing serve, but the Ramblers took the lead for good at 27-26 on a kill by Dana VanDiggelen and then hung on for the win.

In game four, UWM built an early 7-4 lead on a David kill and still led 10-8 after a Hegemann kill. Loyola struck back, though, taking the lead at 13-12 before quickly extending the advantage to 15-12. The Panthers did tie the game at 18, but the Ramblers controlled the game from there. A UWM error gave Loyola a 23-19 lead and the advantage hit 28-23 on a Zins kill. The Panthers did score the next four point to rally within 28-27, but kills by Craig and Shelby Henrikson finished things off for the Ramblers.

The two teams were even after the first two games. In game one, the Panthers recovered from an early four-point deficit to claim a 10-9 lead on a Becky Peters ace, but UWM could never really get on track. The Ramblers took the lead for good at 15-14 on an Ashley kill and expanded the edge to 21-18 on a kill by Henriksen. Loyola eventually led 25-20 before UWM mounted a rally, pulling within 25-24 on a Rambler error. But, another kill by Ashley sparked the final run for Loyola, which scored the final five points of the game to claim the win.

UWM started slow in game two but recovered to even the match. The Ramblers built a quick 9-4 following an Ashley kill and eventually pushed the led to 11-5. But the Panthers fought back, scoring 10 of the next 13 points to claim a 15-14 lead. UWM then took the lead for good at 16-15 on a Moore kill and then extended the edge to 21-17 on a Hegemann kill. A kill by David made it 26-20 and an ace by David brought the Panthers to game point at 29-23. After a UWM error, a Loyola service error gave the Panthers the final point and evened the match.

"It seemed like in the beginning we needed a jump start and we finally got it in game two," Litzau said. "But it was just a very up and down effort after that."

UWM continues its weekend trip to Chicago tomorrow, squaring off with UIC at 4 p.m.