Panthers Head To Tourney At MinnesotaSept. 15, 2003
Weekly Release in PDF Format
UWM returns to the road for its final weekend of non-Horizon League action, traveling to Minneapolis to take part in the Diet Coke Classic. Charlotte, Colorado State and Minnesota round out the field. Tournament Excitement Milwaukee volleyball fans could not have asked for more from the Powerade Panther Invitational this past weekend, with three of the six matches going the five-game limit and a number of statistical milestones being reached. In fact, the tournament had three triple-doubles, including two by the same player (Lisa Beauchene of Sacramento State); three players reach the 20-20 club, including two from UWM (Karen Fruit and Sarah Potts); another player collect 30 digs in a match (tournament MVP Kristin Lutes of Sac. State); and Sacramento State head coach Debby Colberg tally her 700th career win. The Hornets won the tournament on a tiebreaker but SSU, UWM and Illinois State all finished with 2-1 marks in the two-day, three-match event. Working Overtime After having just one match go more than three games in the first two weekends of the season, the Panthers have found themselves having to go the distance as of late. UWM has played five games in three of its last four matches, winning two while losing one. The Panthers also haven't been cheated on the clock, with the five-game match against DePaul running two hours and 15 minutes and the five-gamer with Sacramento State taking two hours and 17 minutes. Triple-Double Your Fun After coming close a number of times over her career, senior setter Lindsey Spoden came through with her first triple-double Saturday night. She tallied 10 kills, 15 digs and 62 assists, with the 10th kill coming as the match-winner in the fifth game. She is the first Panther to record a triple-double since Kristen Fitzgerald did it on Sept. 22, 1996. The triple-double came just four nights after Spoden nearly pulled it off against DePaul, recording 11 kills and 55 assists to go with eight digs. Player Of The Week ... Again For the second time in three weeks, Lindsey Spoden is the Horizon League Player of the Week. Along with her triple-double and her 11-kill effort against DePaul, Spoden led the Panthers to three wins and hit nearly .500 for the week. She has also moved past 4,300 assists for her career and continues to have a chance to become UWM's all-time assists leader by the end of this season. Plus, Spoden is one ace away from tying Laura Dallenbach for the school's all-time record and she has moved up to fourth in career digs with 965. 20-20 Vision Lindsey Spoden wasn't the only Panther to mark a statistical accomplishment this past weekend. Sarah Potts and Karen Fruit each entered the 20-20 club for the first time in their careers Saturday night against Sacramento State. Fruit collected 22 kills and 24 digs while Potts had 21 kills and 24 digs. They became the first pair of Panthers to enter the 20-20 club in the same match since Laura Dallenbach and Chrissy Schurla did it against Butler Nov. 4, 2000. Fruits Of Labor Karen Fruit's entry in the 20-20 club capped off an impressive week for the junior, who also had 20 kills against Illinois State Friday night and 15 kills and 13 digs Saturday afternoon against Eastern Illinois. Fruit leads the team in kills and is averaging 4.62 kills per game. She is also tops on the team in digs with 114 - an average of 3.35 digs per game. She is doing all of this despite missing the first match of the season due to a family wedding. Cattanach Continues To Take Command A week after being named the most valuable player at the Clarion Westgate Rocket Classic, senior Larissa Cattanach continued her consistent play this past week. She reached double figures in kills in all four matches, tallying 44 kills in the three matches of the Powerade Panther Invitational while just missing out on all-tournament honors. Cattanach is hitting .351 for the season - second in the league - while standing third on the team in both kills and blocks. Celebrating September UWM's fast start has it on pace for one of the best Septembers in the school's Division I history. In fact, the Panthers have already eclipsed their win total from last September and are looking for their fifth double-digit win total in September in the last seven years. The best Septembers: Year Record 1999 13-1 1997 11-3 2000 10-3 1998 11-4 2003 9-1 (six matches remain) Fast Start UWM's 7-0 start this season was the best by a Panther team since the 1999 season, when UWM opened with a win over ninth-ranked Wisconsin and was eventually 9-0 before dropping a match. The all-time school best is a 12-0 opening in 1988, when the Panthers were still an NAIA team. The best UWM starts: Year Record Finish 1988 12-0 55-9 1999 9-0 25-4 1984 8-0 55-4 2003 7-0 ------ Heading Home Lindsey Spoden and Larissa Cattanach will each get to play relatively close to home this weekend in Minneapolis. Spoden, who the was the Minnesota Player of the Year as a high school senior, hails from Alexandria, Minn., while Cattanach comes from Fargo, N.D. Neither player has played in their home state, or in Cattanach's case the state closest to home with a Division I volleyball team, in their careers. Panthers Push Their Ranked Opponents UWM will be looking for its first win over a ranked opponent since 1999 when the Panthers face off with 22nd-ranked Minnesota Saturday night. That last win came Sept. 1, 1999 against ninth-ranked Wisconsin. Last year, the Panthers were 0-3 vs. ranked foes, falling once to Notre Dame and twice to Northern Iowa Tourney Titles Everywhere UWM won back-to-back in-season tournament titles this season for the first time since the 1999 season, when the Panthers followed up their title at the Purdue Invitational by winning the Panther Invitational. The title at the Billiken Invitational in the first week of the season was the first title since 2000 for UWM. The Panthers then followed that up by winning the Clarion Westgate Rocket Classic. Road Warriors UWM heads back on the road for another three matches this week, adding to an early-season stretch that has seen the Panthers spend plenty of time away from Milwaukee. In all, UWM will have played 10 of its first 13 contests away from Milwaukee. Last year UWM played 12-straight matches away from home to start the season. Crushin' Them In Klotsche UWM has won 68 of its last 74 home matches and won eight of 11 home matches last year. Overall, the home court advantage in the Kathy Litzau era is impressive, with the Panthers compiling a 92-28 mark. Honors From Week Two With a nearly error-free weekend, senior Larissa Cattanach claimed most valuable player honors at the Clarion Westgate Rocket Classic Sept. 6 as the Panthers won the tourney title with three wins. Cattanach did not commit an error in either of the final two matches of the event. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Lindsey Spoden and Karen Fruit. Spoden continued her steady play, collecting 126 assists. Fruit was honored after tallying 48 kills in three matches. Honors From Week One Panther players received plenty of hardware after claiming the title of the Billiken Invitational on the first weekend of the season. Lindsey Spoden was named the tournament MVP and won honors as the Horizon League Player of the Week. She was steady, as always, hitting .517 with 17 kills while averaging more than 13 assists per game. She collected 23 digs, good for third on the team, while also tallying a team-high seven service aces. Junior Karen Fruit and sophomore Rachel Kuebbing joined Spoden on the all-tournament team. Fruit missed the first match due to a family wedding but then had a career-high 22 kills in a win over St. Louis. Kuebbing played like a veteran, tallying 11 kills in the opener against William & Mary and then 10 kills against St. Louis and nine against Purdue. D...D...D...Defense The Panthers' offensive numbers so far this season have gotten a lot of attention, but just as impressive are the numbers that show how the Panthers have been shutting down the opposition this year. Opponents are hitting just .189 against the Panthers and UWM is averaging more than 15 digs and two blocks per game. Opponents have hit below .200 in seven of the 10 matches so far this season. Record-Setting Game UWM's 41-39 win over William & Mary in game one of the season opener set a new school record for points in a game by the Panthers. The previous high was 34. The 101 total points also set a new UWM record for most points in a three-game match, besting the old mark of 92. Opening In Style The season-opening win over William & Mary marked the fourth time in five years UWM has opened the season with a win. Last year, the Panthers lost their season opener to Notre Dame. UWM is now 6-5 all-time in season openers under Kathy Litzau. Picked To Win UWM has been selected as the odds-on favorite to win the 2003 Horizon League Volleyball title, according to a poll of the league's coaches. The Panthers were the favorite for the top spot in voting amongst the other league coaches. Loyola, which has won the last two regular-season league titles, was picked to finish second in the league. Tough Slate UWM head coach Kathy Litzau has once again put together a challenging schedule in 2003. The Panther Invitational included perennial NCAA qualifier Sacramento State and MVC power Illinois State. UWM is also facing four Conference USA foes and two Big 10 foes in non-league play, including this weekend's matches with Charlotte and Minnesota. Another Memorable Year UWM earned its fifth-straight berth to the NCAA Volleyball Championship by winning the Horizon League Volleyball Tournament. The Panthers, seeded second for the tournament, won in three games in the quarterfinals before winning a pair of five-game matches. Standing Out In The League UWM's regular season last year in the Horizon League was another stellar one, as the Panthers won at least 11 league matches for the sixth-straight season. Plus, the Panthers have not finished below second place in the league since the 1996 season. Since 1997, the Panthers are 67-9 in league play - easily the best mark among league teams. Keeping The Streak Alive UWM's three wins in the league tournament gave the Panthers 20 wins last season. The Panthers have now won at least 20 matches in six-straight seasons and have qualified for the last five NCAA Tournaments. Up Next
UWM comes back to the Klotsche Center for a big week, hosting rival Marquette Wednesday, Sept. 24 before opening up Horizon League play that weekend. Cleveland State visits Friday night at 7 p.m. while Youngstown State will be at the Klotsche Center Saturday afternoon at 2. The three matches are part of a four-match homestand for UWM.
|
