Larissa Cattanach and Tari Boutin had 10 kills each to lead a balanced attack as Wisconsin-Milwaukee stopped Illinois Stat ein three games 15-8, 15-4, 15-9 in college volleyball Tuesday at the Klotsche Center.
The Panthers, 9-2, out-hit Illinois State .400 to .165 for the match and had an 8-1 lead in team blocks. Boutin, a middle blocker, peppered the Redbird defense for 10 kills in 13 attempts without an error, hitting .769 for the match.
The Redbirds, 6-4, got 12 kills from Kendra Haselhorst, six of those in the third game, and 7 from freshman Staci Boyce, who played less than half the match.
A disappointed Sharon Dingman was blunt about her teams performance.
I thought it was a concerted effort of non-competitive people on our side, said Dingman. Milwaukee did some nice things. We knew they would do some nice things, but, of our four losses this year, this is the least competitive weve been as a team. It was disappointing.
Dingman exempted Boyce, the teams only freshman from her unhappiness.
Staci Boyce was the only one who did her job, said Dingman. I asked them (the players) after the game and they all agreed with that. As a freshman, she showed the most leadership; we need more of that from more of the players.
Passing problems kept the Birds out of their offense early in game one, allowing the Panthers to build an 8-2 lead behind six kills by Laura Cattanach.
With ISU hitting errors accounting for three of the first four points in game two, UWM began a 9-1 run. UWM hitters smashed ball-after-ball off the Redbird block, or recovered from ISU block attempts to get the kill.
Boyce came off the bench for five kills to lead a game-three Redbird rally which gave the Birds a 6-5 lead. But UWM bounced back with the help of back-to-back service aces by Lindsey Spoden.
Dingman plans to challenge her players in practice the rest of this week.
Well be working on some things the next couple of days, said Dingman. Ive told the players that we dont decide the lineup, they do with their competitiveness. We just turn the lineup in before the game.
Illinois State returns to Missouri Valley Conference play Saturday at Indiana State.
