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New home, same results
Volleyball team spikes Butler yet again
By Jimmy Lemke
Usually, when the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women’s volleyball team takes the floor as the home team, it’s in the friendly confines of the Klotsche Center, right on campus.
On Saturday, however, the venue — the U.S. Cellular Arena — was quite different. Serving as the opening festivities to Panther Madness, the volleyballers quickly dispatched the visiting Butler Bulldogs in three straight sets, 30-22, 30-20, 30-21.
In new scenery, two players rose up to the challenge of Butler and put in their best performances of the season. Nicole Vilter, a junior outside hitter, tallied 14 kills, a career best as a Panther.
Just behind her, with 13 kills, was Jamie Gabrielsen, a junior from Menomonee Falls. The individuals shined, but the match was won on a team effort.
The Panthers hit a very solid .341 average, a full 204 points ahead of the .137 average put up by Butler. In fact, the 61 kills UWM racked up was one more than double what the stumbling Bulldogs garnered. This has been a common occurrence for UWM, as they have defeated Butler in 19 of their last 21 matches against the school from Indianapolis.
It doesn’t matter where home is for the Panthers, the volleyball team has not been beaten in 19 straight Horizon League home court matches.
Milwaukee (13-5, 6-1 Horizon) returns on Wednesday night against Oral Roberts (17-6, 6-0 Mid-Con) in the Klotsche Center at 7 p.m.
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