Sept. 19, 2008

Box Score |  Notes

DAYTON, Ohio - Becky Peters had 20 kills and Maddie Sueppel added 17 as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee opened Horizon League play with a 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 25-17 win over Wright State Friday night at McLin Gymnasium.

The Panthers (8-3, 1-0 Horizon) were solid on offense and defense throughout much of the evening. Milwaukee hit .265 for the match while limiting the Raiders to a .147 hitting clip, helping the Panthers claim their 14th win in their last 15 league road matches.

Milwaukee's defensive charge was led by Lauren Felsing, who had 26 digs. Peters added 16 while Lauren Hintze had 12 and Samantha Trawitzke 10. In all, the Panthers had 84 digs in the four-set win while Wright State had just 54. Plus, UWM added nine blocks, as Natalie Schmitting led the way in the front row with seven.

Meanwhile, Natalie Chery added an extra punch to the Panthers' offense, collecting 11 kills while hitting .417.

Jessica Woods had 11 kills to lead Wright State (2-9, 0-1), which has now lost 13-straight against UWM. The Raiders seemed to be in the match after winning the second set but the Panthers regained control midway through the third set and never gave it up.

"There was definitely a difference in our team from the first set to the fourth set," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "I think by that fourth set we just started making better decisions and more determined decisions. We really started letting it go and just playing."

Similar to nearly every other match in the first four weeks of the season, Milwaukee's defense kept rallies alive long enough for the Panthers to score, even in stretches where they struggled on offense.

"We were really digging them consistently," Johnson said. "To have 30 more digs than they had is amazing, but Lauren and the rest of our defense in the back row continues to do a great job."

Milwaukee never trailed in capturing the first set. The Panthers built a 12-8 edge on a kill by Schmitting and then extended the edge to 16-10 on an ace by Felsing. Wright State did score the next two points to pull within four but would never get any closer. Another kill by Schmitting pushed the lead up to 21-13 and the Panthers then wrapped up the set on a kill by Peters.

Wright State bounced back to win the second set. The Raiders quickly built an 8-3 lead and UWM would never be able to forge a tie. The Panthers did pull within 13-12 on a WSU error and again to within 14-13 on a Peters kill, but UWM could never get over the hump. A kill by Becca Awaa pushed the lead to 21-16 and a kill by Woods officially evened the match.

The Panthers recovered from an 11-7 deficit to claim the third set. In fact, UWM scored seven-straight to turn that deficit into a 14-11 lead and then expanded the edge to 18-14 on a Chery kill. The Raiders did pull to within two points four different times after that but the Panthers never let them get any closer. Then, Milwaukee closed out the set with four-straight points, as kills by Schmitting and Peters highlighted the final rally.

UWM carried that momentum into the fourth set, building a quick 9-3 advantage. The lead grew to 14-7 on a block by Schmitting and Kerri Schuh and to 15-7 on a WSU hitting error. The advantage was still 18-10 on a kill by Chery and Milwaukee then led by as many as nine points before wrapping up the match on a kill by Schuh.

"It is great to see all of the contributions we are starting to get on offense," Johnson said. "Maddie was great in the middle, Becky came through in the end with some big kills and Natalie Chery has started to develop as a threat."

The Panthers will return to Milwaukee for a difficult non-league match Sunday, with the Panthers facing 8-2 Oregon State Sunday at Marquette's Al McGuire Center. The event is officially part of a tournament Marquette is hosting, though UWM will only be playing this one match in the event.