Nov. 10, 2007

Box Score |  Notes

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Jamie Gabrielsen had 15 kills and Natalie Schmitting added 14 as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee wrapped up a stellar regular season with 31-29, 30-28, 30-22 win over Butler Saturday afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The win allows the Horizon League regular season champion Panthers (25-2, 15-1) to tie the Division I school record for victories. UWM has also won 11-straight matches overall and has lost just one time since Aug. 24.

Schmitting hit .591 in the match to help spark the UWM offense while Lauren Felsing tallied 19 digs to lead a Panther defense that limited Butler to a .187 hitting percentage. Gabrielsen also added 12 digs for her sixth-straight double-double.

The Panthers had to rally in each of the first two games but then found their stride in the third frame to capture their seventh-straight win over the Bulldogs.

"Butler played very well but we fought hard, didn't give up when we were behind and really showed great composure," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "We did a good job of changing some things late in every game and that really allowed us to surge ahead and get the wins."

The Panthers, who have won the last five league regular season titles, now set their sights on the league tournament crown and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. UWM will host the tournament at the Klotsche Center, playing a quarterfinal match Friday at 7:30 p.m. against either Loyola or Green Bay.

"I told the team right after the match that they need to use all of their good feelings and all of their experience and bring it into next week," Johnson said. "We were pushed all season long but we consistently pushed back and won. Now we need to take care of what we've been doing all season long."

After leading most of the way, UWM needed a late surge to pull out the first game. The Panthers led 21-16 after kill by Gabrielsen and still led 24-21 after a block by Gabrielsen and Maddie Sueppel. But, Butler rallied, moving into position to claim the first game by building a 29-27 lead. Instead, the Panthers scored four-straight points to fight off two game-points and claim the win. The run started with a kill by Gabrielsen and a Bulldog error before a block by Schmitting and Gabrielsen and an ace by Becky Peters wrapped things up.

The Panthers trailed most of the second game before pulling it out. UWM was down 25-22 after a Jessica Wolfe kill before rallying to tie the game at 27. After the Panthers fell behind again, 28-27, kills by Peters, Schmitting and Gabrielsen gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead in the match.

Milwaukee then made sure game three wouldn't go down to the wire, as the Panthers broke an 11-all tie with five-straight points and never looked back. A kill by Schmitting and a BU error pushed the edge to 21-15 and a kill by Sueppel made it 28-21. UWM then closed out the game and match on two kills by Felsing. The final point came on a play that saw Felsing leave the court and leap over a chair after saving a ball, only to return to the floor to collect the match-winning kill.

"Natalie was great again on offense, just really, really good," Johnson said. "Leanne came through at the end, especially with a spectacular effort on the final point. Jamie continues to lead us offensively and Maddie did a nice job coming off the bench and contributing in the middle."

Michelle DeGeeter had 14 kills to lead Butler (14-14, 7-9), which had won three-straight matches.

The full pairings for the league tournament will be set after action around the league wraps up Saturday. The tournament includes a first-round match Thursday night, four quarterfinals Friday, two semifinals Saturday and the title match Sunday at noon.