Sept. 11, 2008

Box Score |  Notes

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Becky Peters had 14 kills and Maddie Sueppel added 10 to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a convincing 25-13, 25-14, 25-20 victory over Florida A&M Thursday night in the opening match of the MSU Showcase.

The Panthers (5-2) hit .319 in the contest while limiting Florida A&M to just 26 kills while forcing 26 errors.

Kerri Schuh contributed eight kills and five blocks while Natalie Schmitting pitched-in with six kills and five blocks for UWM, which has won four-straight matches.

Maria Gomez had 10 kills to lead the Rattlers (2-4), who have made the last seven NCAA Tournaments.

"We came out focused and ready," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "We didn't know a lot about this opponent coming in except they have experienced a lot of success in recent seasons. But we came out very disciplined and saw the match through to the finish. We've played a lot of long matches early in the season so it was good to finish the match off in the third set."

UWM controlled the first set and cruised to an easy win. FAMU did build a quick 5-3 lead but the Panthers struck back with six-straight points to claim a 9-5 advantage. A pair of kills by Peters pushed the Milwaukee edge to 16-9 and UWM led 21-11 after an ace by Lauren Felsing. Three kills by Sueppel made it 24-13 and the Panthers then wrapped up the set on a FAMU error.

Milwaukee steadily pulled away in the second set. The Panthers took the lead for good at 10-9 on a block by Peters and Sueppel and quickly pushed their edge to 12-9 on a Schmitting kill. The advantage grew to 18-12 on a Peters kill and the Panthers were never threatened from there. In fact, after FAMU pulled to within 19-14, Milwaukee scored the final six points of the set.

The Panthers then wrapped up their first sweep of the season with a hard-fought win in the third set. FAMU's last lead came at 10-9 but the set was tied at 16-apiece before the Panthers pulled away. They scored the next five points to build a 21-16 advantage and then still led 23-18 after an ace by Samantha Trawitzke. The Rattlers came back with two points in a row before kills by Peters and Schmitting finished things off for Milwaukee.

The Panthers continue play in the MSU Showcase with a pair of matches Friday. UWM will square off with Michigan State at noon EDT (11 a.m. CDT) before wrapping up tournament play against UCONN at 8 p.m. EDT (7 p.m. CDT).