Aug. 27, 2010

Box Score

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Three players reached double figures in kills while Mary Beth O'Brien and Rachel Neuberger teamed up for a block on the deciding point of the match as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team opened the 2010 season with a 25-27, 25-18, 18-25, 25-15, 15-13 win over Saint Louis Friday at the IPFW Invitational.

The Panthers trailed 12-11 late in the fifth set, but a block by Kerri Schuh and Natalie Schmitting started the deciding rally. Schuh then had a kill to put Milwaukee up 14-13 before the block by O'Brien and Neuberger sealed things for UWM.

Schuh and O'Brien shared match-high offensive honors with 11 kills apiece, while Jena Berg added 10 kills. Schuh also had 13 digs for her first career double-double.

Saint Louis, which received 18 votes in the AVCA's Preseason Top 25 poll, got 16 kills from Megan Boken and 15 kills from Alyssa Deno but could not overcome 32 hitting errors and 20 service errors.

"We stayed with it and we got through," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "That was a really good team. They have a lot of experience winning - they are used to winning - so it wasn't easy. We came through ... we didn't play our best but we actually came through when we needed to, so it was a great win."

UWM's defense was stellar throughout, limiting Saint Louis to a .129 hitting clip. Morgan Potter earned the start at libero and led the way with 16 digs, while Samantha Trawitzke added 15 to go with her 35 assists. Schmitting had five blocks while Schuh and Neuberger added four.

Milwaukee also played without senior middle blocker Maddie Sueppel, sidelined for the weekend by injury.

The Panthers led most of the way in the first set but could not hang on. In fact, UWM led 11-7 after a kill by Schmitting and extended the edge to 16-11 after a SLU error. The Billikens did rally to claim a 21-20 lead after a UWM hitting error, but Milwaukee struck back with four of the next five points for a 24-22 advantage. The Panthers couldn't close things out, though, as SLU fought off a pair of set-points and eventually led 25-24 after two-straight kills by Deno. A Neuberger kill tied things at 25 but a service error followed by an ace from Deno gave the Billikens the first set.

Milwaukee did a much better job of playing on the lead in the second set. The Panthers scored five in a row to build an early 7-2 advantage and never gave that edge up. A kill by Trawitzke made it 11-4 and a quick run of four-straight points behind the serving of Anna Bartz made it 15-7. The lead was still 21-13 after a kill by O'Brien, but the Billikens scored the next four points to pull within 21-17. After the two teams traded points, UWM put on a finishing surge. A SLU serving error started the run, followed by a block from Trawitzke and Schmitting and then a Billiken hitting error.

Saint Louis took control of the third set early on and never gave it back. The Billikens scored seven of the first nine points of the set and were up 10-4 after a solo block by Boken. The Panthers did pull within 13-11 on a solo block by Schmitting, but UWM would never get any closer. The SLU lead hit 21-14 on a kill by Boken and the teams traded points from there, putting the Billikens back ahead in the match.

The Panthers used a huge run to force a fifth set. UWM actually trailed 14-11 midway through the fourth frame before finishing things with a 14-1 burst. The run included two-straight service aces by Potter and then a pair of aces later by Schuh. Milwaukee took the lead for good at 15-14 on a block by Schuh and Neuberger and led 18-14 after the two-straight aces by Potter. Three-straight SLU errors made it 22-15 before UWM closed things out with the two Schuh aces sandwiched around another Billiken error.

Milwaukee led 5-2 in the early going of the fifth set but looked like it might be in trouble when Saint Louis built an 11-9 advantage after three-straight Panther errors. But a Schmitting kill and a SLU error helped stabilize things, setting up the match-winning surge for Milwaukee.

UWM continues play in the tournament with a pair of matches Saturday. The Panthers face Tulsa at 11 a.m. EDT/10 a.m. CDT before squaring off with the hosts from IPFW at 7 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. CDT.