Aug. 31, 2012

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team battled back from a two-set deficit but came up short in the deciding fifth frame, falling to Bradley, 25-20, 25-19, 18-25, 17-25, 15-9, Friday afternoon on the first day of the Panther Invitational at the Klotsche Center.

The Panthers (2-2) got back in the match thanks to a vastly improved effort on defense but then could not overcome seven hitting errors of their own in the fifth set.

Freshman Maggie Dunbar led Milwaukee with 15 kills and was one of four Panther players in double figures. Defensively, Julie Kolinske and Maisey Mulvey led the way with 18 digs apiece while Anna Bartz added 17.

After allowing Bradley (4-0) to hit better than .300 in each of the first two sets, UWM never allowed the Braves to hit better than .062 in any of the final three frames. But Milwaukee hit just .140 for the match overall and never truly had its offense on track.

Amy Angelos led the Braves (4-0) with 15 kills.

It was all Bradley in the fifth set. The Braves scored the first five points and still led 8-3 after a Panther hitting error. Milwaukee looked like it might have found its stride, pulling within 9-8 on a block by Elizabeth Egerer and Nicole Latzig. But Bradley ended the match by scoring six of the final seven points, with four of those six points coming on UWM errors.

Not much went right for Milwaukee in the first two sets. Bradley used a late surge to win the first set and then never trailed in claiming the second frame. The Braves hit .306 in the first set and .314 in the second, committing just seven errors while collecting 29 kills in effectively running their offense.

UWM recovered coming out of the break, though, turning up its defense. The Panthers never trailed in either the third or fourth sets, limiting Bradley to a .023 hitting clip in the third frame and a .056 clip in the fourth.

But the tide turned back to Bradley in the fifth set, with the Braves securing their fourth-straight win to open the season.

Earlier in the day, Western Michigan claimed a 3-0 win over SEMO. Jessica Brown had 13 kills to lead the Broncos.

Action at the Panther Invitational restarts shortly. SEMO and East Carolina play at 4:30 while Milwaukee and Western Michigan will square off at 7 p.m.