Oct. 6, 2006

Box Score

CHICAGO - Senior Courtney Ashley finished with 18 kills and 14 digs as Loyola handed UW-Milwaukee its first conference loss of the season with a hard-fought 3-1 (30-24, 25-30, 30-28, 30-27) win over UW-Milwaukee tonight at Alumni Gym. The win pulls the Ramblers to 10-10 (3-2 Horizon) and drops the Panthers to 9-5 (3-1).

"It was a great win for us tonight, a total team effort," said head coach Marcie Bomhack. "We played with a lot of heart and fought hard for every point. It was an important match for us at home against the preseason favorite in our league and I hope we can build on this match and come out tomorrow and play well against UW-Green Bay."

Loyola came out of the gates strong, reeling off six of the first eight points to prompt an early Panther timeout. Milwaukee regrouped and eventually took a 10-9 lead on a Becky Peters ace. Kills from Ashley and Melissa Craig later helped the Ramblers to a 17-14 lead and a block from Shelby Henriksen and Dana VanDiggelen later in the frame upped the lead to four, 23-19. After a Panther service error pushed LU's lead to 25-20, the visitors ripped off four straight points to cut the deficit to one. However, Ashley found a hole to give Loyola service and Henriksen served out the final four points, with help from an ace and another Ashley kill, to give the Ramblers the opening game. Loyola's offense was clicking on all cylinders in the opening set, slugging 17 kills at a .314 clip.

Game two followed a similar pattern, as another Ashley kill gave LU an early 7-3 lead. A Craig kill and a Milwaukee error helped the lead grow to six (11-5) before UWM roared back, taking a 15-14 lead on a Jamie Gabrielsen kill. A Keily Zins put-away only stemmed the tide momentarily, as Milwaukee reeled off the next four to take a 19-15 lead and the Ramblers would get no closer than three points the rest of the way.

The third set was tight throughout, as UWM began to chip away after an Ashley kill gave LU a 12-9 lead. A Loyola error knotted the frame at 12 and the teams alternated points all the way to 22-all before the Ramblers broke through to open a two-point lead (24-22). The lead quickly vanished behind three consecutive Panther points but Alyse Serritella followed a VanDiggelen kill with a service ace to put LU back on top, 26-25. The teams traded points to 27-26 before a Panther error opened the door for the Ramblers and Loyola was able to side-out from there, with Craig finding the back line to wrap up a 30-28 win.

Five Milwaukee errors and kills from Craig and Ashley highlighted a 7-2 Loyola spurt midway through game four that saw the Ramblers turn a 10-8 deficit into a 15-12 lead. Consecutive kills later from Nicole Vilter drew the Panthers even at 18 but Loyola slowly pulled away from there. Back-to-back kills from VanDiggelen and a Milwaukee error helped LU stretch the lead to four, 24-20, and a Zins kill later gave Loyola a seemingly comfortable 28-23 lead. However, Milwaukee rallied to 28-27 before kills from Craig and Henriksen closed out the match.

Loyola finished the match outhitting Milwaukee, .206-.171, despite having five less kills than the Panthers (65-60). The Ramblers defense was strong again, as the home team enjoyed a 9-4 edge in blocks and a slight 81-75 advantage in digs.

Ashley received plenty of support from Craig and Zins (11 kills apiece) while Henriksen chipped in eight kills and six blocks.

The Ramblers return to action tomorrow afternoon with a 4 p.m. match against UW-Green Bay at Alumni Gym.