Nov. 17, 2006

Box Score |  Notes

DAYTON, Ohio - Cheryl Hegemann had 13 kills to lead four players in double figures as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee claimed a 30-26, 30-25, 30-19 win over Youngstown State Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament.

The top-seeded Panthers (22-5), who have won 13-straight matches, will play the winner of tonight's Wright State/UW-Green Bay match in tomorrow's semifinals.

Melissa David had 12 kills, Jamie Gabrielsen 11 and Sarah Moore 10 to aid Milwaukee, which hit .301 for the match.

UWM's defense also was sharp, as the Panthers collected 74 digs, led by 21 apiece from Hegemann and Becky Peters.

Ruth Boscaljon and Ebony Barbosa led Youngstown State (10-22) with 11 kills apiece.

"I'm very happy to get the win and advance, and it is good to get a tournament game under our belt," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "I thought we played well, and I thought Youngstown State was awesome in the first two games. They really avoided errors and stressed us, and I am thankful they stressed us because I think that will help us the next couple of days."

The Panthers claimed the win in a hard-fought first game. In fact, after UWM scored the first three points, YSU responded with nine of the next 10 points for a 9-4 advantage. The lead was 11-7 before the Panthers regained control, scoring eight-straight points for a 15-11 lead. YSU would never get the lead back, though the Penguins did pull to within 20-18 on a UWM error. Kills from Hegemann and David pushed the lead back to 24-19 and then late kills by Gabrielsen and Nicole Vilter closed out the game for Milwaukee.

UWM also battled its way to a win in game two. The Panthers fell behind 8-5 before scoring four in a row to claim a 9-8 lead. Milwaukee took the lead for good at 13-12 on a Vilter kill and extended the lead to 21-16 on a YSU error. A kill by Gabrielsen made it 25-18 and, after the Penguins made a late surge, UWM closed out the frame on a YSU error.

The Panthers were finally able to pull away in the third game. UWM never trailed in the frame and used a 10-1 run to build a 17-7 advantage. YSU did pull back to within seven before UWM ran away with the game. A kill by Hegemann got the lead back up to double figures at 22-12 and kills by David and Gabrielsen made it 27-14. Two more late kills by David then sealed the match for the Panthers.

"I am very happy with the way we spread out our offense," Litzau said. "We kept changing our defense to try to stop them and our back row did a good job of digging the ball. Youngstown State definitely didn't look like the last place team in our league tonight, but we were up to the challenges they presented us."

Milwaukee's semifinal match begins at 5 p.m. EST/4 p.m. CST Saturday. Cleveland State and UIC, each of whom won quarterfinal matches earlier Friday, will meet in the first semifinal at 2:30 p.m. EST/1:30 p.m. CST.