(May 5, 2002)

Minnesota Defeats Chicago To Win USPV Championship
Chill Wins Inaugural Championship Series 3-1

CHICAGO IL (May 5, 2002) The Minnesota Chill defeated the Chicago Thunder 3-2 Sunday to win the first U.S. Pro Volleyball championship at Saint Xavier University's Shannon Center.

Minnesota, also the regular season USPV champion, won the best-of-5 series 3-1. The Chill entrenched themselves in first place from wire-to-wire during the regular season.

University of Minnesota alum Nicole Branagh, the Big Ten all-time kills leader, led the Chill with a career-best 24.5 points, including 17 kills and a career-high 5.5 blocks. Branagh, the runner-up in the USPV MVP voting, was named the championship series MVP.

""Being named MVP of the series is a great honor. I couldn't have done it without my teammates," said Branagh. "My teammates make me a great player."

Tyra Harper capped a strong championship series with 17 points (11 kills, 4 blocks, 2 aces), while Wiz Bachman added 14.5 points, including 4.5 blocks.

Lindsey Berg, both the USPV's Outstanding Setter and Server for 2002, tied a career-high with 8 points (5 kills) and had 51 setting assists. Berg finished the season with at least one ace in her last eight matches and had at least one ace in 23 of 25 matches this season.

Kristee Porter, the 2002 USPV Offensive Player of the Year, led Chicago with 26.5 points, including 22 kills and 4.5 blocks. Terri Zemaitis-Boumans added 12.5 points (8 kills, 2.5 blocks) and Bonnie Bremner had 51 setting assists for the Thunder.

Minnesota jumped out to a commanding 2-0 lead Sunday, only to have the Thunder roar back to win games 3 and 4. Minnesota won the match 25-17, 25-18, 25-27, 20-25, 15-11. Chicago was looking to become only the second USPV team to ever come back from a 2-0 deficit in a match.

Minnesota also snapped a series jinx by winning the first game and not losing the match. The first three matches of the series saw the Game 1 winner go on to lose the match.

"We didn't want to go out in three games," said Chicago's Porter. "We weren't prepared for the season to end like that."  Porter is already looking forward to next season. "I enjoyed every minute of this," said Porter. "It was a ton of fun playing in this league. I can't wait to start playing next year."

USPV Championship
Best-of-5
Sunday's result
Minnesota d. Chicago 3-2 (Minnesota wins series 3-1)

[Source: Mike Miazga, Director Media Relations, USPV, (630) 575-8827]