Loyola upsets UW-Milwaukee , 3-1, in the semifinals of the Horizon League Volleyball Championship.
Nov. 19, 2005
CHICAGO- Fourth-seeded Loyola University Chicago upset regular-season champion University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in four games on Saturday, Nov. 19, in the semifinals of the Horizon League Volleyball Championship.
Hilary Stromath led Loyola with 16 kills on .379 hitting, while four other Ramblers tallied double-digit kills. Shelby Henriksen and Audrey Davis each recorded 12 kills, while Courtney Ashley and Sarah Elmer each added 11 on the match. Elmer also added 50 assists and nine digs, finishing one dig away from her second triple-double of the season.
Rachel Kuebbing led all players with 22 kills, while Cheryl Hegemann added a double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs for the Panthers.
The Ramblers used a .415 hitting percentage and a 12-dig effort from Ann Deelo to beat the Panthers, 30-26, in game one, then squelched a late Panther surge to take game two, 30-18.
UW-Milwaukee battled back to win game three, 30-24, behind eight kills from Rachel Kuebbing. The Ramblers, however, held the Panthers to a 0.079 hitting percentage in the fourth game to win 30-23.
With the win, Loyola advances to the championship match for the eighth time in the last nine years, winning titles in 1999, 2000 and 2004. The only year that it missed the final was 2003, when the Ramblers fell to UW-Green Bay, 3-2, in the semifinal round.
With the loss, UW-Milwaukee finished the season at 20-9. The defeat marks the fifth consecutive year in which the regular-season champion has failed win the tournament.
The 2005 Horizon League Volleyball Championship will be held Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 17-20, at the Flames Center on the campus of University of Illinois at Chicago. The match will air live on Comcast Sports Net Chicago, Comcast Indianapolis and the Ohio News Network. WMLW-Milwaukee will tape delay the broadcast until 5 p.m. ET. The winner of Sunday's championship match will earn the League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
