Sept. 21, 2001

Box Score

Chicago, Ill. - UW-Milwaukee has had the University of Illinois at Chicago volleyball team's number in recent history.

In fact, the Flames had not won a game from the Panthers since 1998.

UIC took UW-Milwaukee to the limit, but fell short by the score of 27-30, 30-21, 25-30, 30-24, 15-8 at the Physical Education Building on Friday night in the Flames' Horizon League opener.

"This is a tough one to talk about," UIC head coach Don August said. "We came out ready to play and I thought we did a real good job in the first game. Then I thought our level of play dropped, but not significantly."

UIC (4-5, 0-1 Horizon League) received solid performances from sophomores Teaha Shepperd (14 kills, 11 digs), Lindsey Filkins (13 kills, 14 digs) and redshirt freshman Dawn Strahanoski (50 assists, 14 digs) as each recorded a double-double for the Flames.

"We had some people do some real nice stuff," August said. "I thought Filkins, Teaha and Dawn each had solid matches."

Senior Lynn Clarkson added 14 kills for UIC while junior Gina Caneva contributed 12 kills.

"The fact that we didn't win the match hurt," August said. "But at the same time, it is early in the season.

"I think we are a young team and a match like this can give us some confidence."

UW-Milwaukee's Laura Dallenbach recorded a match-high 22 kills and 23 digs to pace the Panthers' attack. Teammate Chrissy Schurla added 13 kills and 14 digs.

With the match tied at two, UW-Milwaukee (4-4, 1-0 Horizon League) pounced on the Flames for a 5-1 outburst at the outset of the final game for a lead they would never relinquish.

"I don't want to say it's a good loss, because it's not a good loss, because we should have won the match. We put ourselves in position to win.

"Now we have to be able to respond tomorrow against a good Green Bay team."

UIC will return to the Physical Education Building tomorrow to take on the UW-Green Bay Phoenix at 4:00 p.m.