Oct. 8, 2004

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DAYTON - Karen Fruit set a new collegiate high with 31 kills as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee overcame a sluggish outing to claim a 30-24, 19-30, 30-23, 30-26 win over Wright State Friday night at McLin Gymnasium.

The Panthers (8-6, 4-0 Horizon) have now won four-straight matches entering a first-place showdown with Butler tomorrow in Indianapolis.

Fruit had 18 of her kills over the final two frames as she almost single-handedly led the Panthers to their 16th-straight Horizon League road win.

Cheryl Hegemann and Leanne Felsing added 10 kills apiece for UWM.

Sarah Poling led Wright State (3-13, 1-3) with 16 kills.

UWM had to overcome poor play during much of the match, as the Panthers committed 37 hitting errors and hit just .150 in the match, including -.026 in game two.

"We were just very, very off," UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said. "It's awesome that you can win when you are not at your best and we were not at our best. There is certainly a lot we can learn from tonight."

What the Panthers already know, though, is that when things are rough, they can set Fruit. The Horizon League's leader in kills, Fruit surpassed her 30-kill effort from a match earlier in the season with her 31-kill night, the second-highest single match total in UWM's Division I history.

"It's so nice to have a player that can do that when things aren't going well," Litzau said. "Mel (setter Melissa Lange) was not feeling the game tonight but she was feeling it with Karen. It would be nice to get more of our players in the game like we did last weekend, but we just didn't have the confidence in our hitters tonight."

The Panthers won the match with victories in games three and four, winning the third frame easily before fighting to close out the match.

UWM controlled game three from the outset, building a quick 10-4 lead and forcing a Wright State timeout. The break didn't stem the tide, though, as a kill by Sarah Moore made it 15-7 and an ace by Melissa Lange pushed the lead to 16-7. The Panthers eventually led by as many as 10 points and never let Wright State closer than six. A kill by Felsing wrapped up the game for the Panthers.

Game four was a much bigger struggle for the Panthers, with the Raiders building a 13-7 lead following a string of UWM errors. But the Panthers found their stride, pulling with 13-12 on a block by Moore and Melissa Lange and eventually tying the game at 15 on a Fruit kill. The teams traded points from there, before UWM took the lead for good at 23-22 on a Wright State service error. A kill by Felsing made it 26-23 and a crucial block on a broken play by Rachel Kuebbing and Hegemann made it 27-23. After the Raiders closed to within 28-26, a Wright State error and a Fruit kill closed out the match for the Panthers.

The teams split the first two games. The Panthers won game one with a strong finishing run. Much of the game was tight, with UWM building a three-point lead at 12-9 before Wright State rallied to claim a 15-14 advantage on a UWM error. The Raiders had their final lead at 21-20 on a UWM error before the Panthers rallied to close the game. They took the lead for good at 24-23 on a Leanne Felsing kill and then used a five-point run to close the game, highlighted by two kills by Hegemann and a kill by Fruit.

Wright State countered my controlling most of game two. The Panthers led 10-9 following a Raider error but Wright State ran off five of the next six points for a 14-11 advantage. UWM pulled back within 15-13 and 16-14, both times on kills by Hegemann, but could never get any closer. An ace by Alisha Kimbro made it 23-16 and an ace by Lisa Griffiths pushed the lead to 28-19 before the Raiders added the final two points of the game.

Saturday's contest between the Panthers and Bulldogs starts at 4 p.m.