Oct. 7, 2006

Box Score |  Notes

CHICAGO - Cheryl Hegemann had 19 kills, 12 digs and seven blocks to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a 30-22, 30-27, 15-30, 30-23 win over the University of Illinois at Chicago Saturday afternoon at the Flames Athletic Center.

Melissa David and Sarah Moore added 11 kills apiece for the Panthers (10-5, 4-1 Horizon), who handed the Flames (11-11, 5-1) their first loss in league play.

Ambria Springer led UIC with 19 kills.

The big story of the day was UWM's defense at the net. The Panthers collected 12 blocks in the match, with Monica Ferguson and Sarah Moore collecting four apiece to go with Hegemann's team-best seven. Milwaukee's back-row defense was also strong, as Becky Peters led the way with 20 digs.

"When our serving and passing is on, we really can play very well," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "Becky was all over the place in the back row and it was nice to see Cheryl step up as a senior with a great all-around match. It wasn't perfect, but we'll certainly take a road win any way we can get it."

The Panthers recovered from a very slow start to claim an impressive comeback win in game one. UWM quickly fell down 5-2 and UIC extended its lead to 10-3 after a kill by Springer and a block by Springer and Katie Kozak. But it was all Panthers from there, with UWM taking the lead for good at 14-13 on a kill by Hegemann before extending the advantage to 24-17 on a pair of UIC errors. Kills by Ferguson and Hegemann helped keep the advantage at seven before another set of kills from Ferguson and Hegemann gave UWM the first frame.

UWM seemed to be in control most of the second game but nearly let the victory slip away. The Panthers built a 7-3 lead on a kill by Jamie Gabrielsen and extended the lead to 13-6 on a kill by Ferguson. Kills by David and Moore kept the lead at 18-12 and three-straight kills by Ferguson made it 22-16. UWM still led 26-21 after a ace by Becky Peters, but UIC stormed back. The Flames scored five-straight points to tie the game at 26 and, after a Hegemann kill stemmed the tide, the game was knotted again at 27 following a UWM service error. Milwaukee made the final push when it counted, though, using a block by Leanne Felsing and Moore to spark a game-ending 3-0 run, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Flames showed they would not go down without a fight in dominating the third game. UWM did hold a 9-8 lead after a kill by Gabrielsen, but the Flames proceeded to scored 17 of the next 18 points to grab a 25-10 lead. UWM would get no closer than 13 points from there, and a kill by Springer finished off the frame for UIC. The Panthers hit -.133 in the game and committed 13 hitting errors while collecting just seven kills.

UWM did a good job of reclaiming the momentum quickly in game four. The Panthers jumped to a 12-6 lead on back-to-back kills from David and expanded the lead to 15-7 on a Gabrielsen kill. UIC did pull within 15-10 with a quick run and was within 20-16 later in the frame, but the Panthers responded with five-straight points to regain control. Two kills by Moore helped push UWM to match point before Milwaukee rounded out the game on a kill by Hegemann.

"We still weren't completely ourselves, but we were definitely more composed and handled ourselves better than we did last night (in the loss at Loyola)," Litzau said. "I am very proud of the way the team turned around after a loss last night and played the way they did. I'm very happy with the win no matter how we got it."

UWM has a busy week ahead, with a non-league match Tuesday at crosstown rival Marquette followed by home league matches with Wright State and Butler over the weekend.