Nov. 21, 2008

Box Score |  Notes

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Kerri Schuh had 10 kills to lead a balanced University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee attack as the Panthers claimed a 25-15, 25-21, 25-23 win over the University of Illinois at Chicago Friday morning in a quarterfinal match at the Horizon League Volleyball Tournament.

The top-seeded Panthers (21-8) now advance to the semifinals for the 13th-straight season and will face either Loyola or Butler Saturday.

Becky Peters added nine kills and Maddie Sueppel eight for Milwaukee, which never trailed in the first or third sets and made a late surge in each frame to claim the win.

Katerina Hanackova had seven kills to lead the Flames (14-18), who collected just 28 kills in the contest.

In fact, UWM's defense was superb, as the Panthers limited the Flames to a .054 hitting percentage while collecting 73 digs and nine blocks. Lauren Felsing had 25 digs while Natalie Schmitting had five blocks.

"We had control, then we would lose it, but we were always able to get it back," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "The biggest success of the day is getting that control back. Playing in a league tournament is a first-time experience for a lot of our players, but they handled things well when it was tight."

The Panthers looked like they had control of the first set from the start, with UWM bolting to a leads of 5-0, 7-1 and 14-5. But, UIC rattled off nine-straight points to tie the frame at 14. It was all Milwaukee from there, though, as the Panthers scored 11 of the final 12 points of the set. Schuh had three kills and a block during the burst, while Schmitting tallied a kill, block and ace. A block by Sueppel and Natalie Chery then finished off the frame.

UWM used a late surge to claim the second set. The Panthers never trailed by more than two points but were still down 20-19 after a kill by Christin Hunt. Two-straight kills by Schuh followed, giving Milwaukee the lead for good. An ace by Peters, a block from Schuh and Chery and a kill by Schmitting then pushed the Panthers into a 2-0 lead in the match.

Milwaukee then hung on to win the third set and wrap up the match. The Panthers bolted out to an 11-4 lead but the Flames fought all the way back to tie things at 18. The set was again tied at 21 and 22 before the Panthers finished things off. A pair of UIC errors put Milwaukee up 24-22 and, after a UWM error made it 24-23, a kill by Schuh moved the Panthers into the semifinals.

"Lauren's digs were awesome and our blocking was very good," Johnson said. "Kerri Schuh stepped up and Melissa Jansen (five kills, two blocks) really added something for us off the bench."

Saturday's semifinal match will begin at 12:30 pm EST/11:30 am CST. Loyola and Butler were scheduled to start their match at approximately 1:30 pm EST Friday.