Box Score MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team had an incredible showing on the court, jumping out to a 1-0 lead and forcing one the best teams in the nation to four sets before falling to 19th-ranked Minnesota, 3-1, Saturday morning from the Pavilion.
Playing its second of three matches in the Diet Coke Classic, Milwaukee (4-5) stormed out of the gates to take the first set before the Gophers (6-1) battled back for a hard-fought, 26-28, 25-22, 25-18, 25-23 win over the Panthers.
UWM actually held the lead in all four evenly contested sets. In all, there were 39 ties and 15 lead changes between the two teams in the highly entertaining first match of the day.
Julie Kolinske led the way for Milwaukee with 21 kills, moving her just 27 kills shy of 1,000 for her Panther career.
Myanna Ruiz and
Taylor Golabowski combined to lead the way defensively with 19 and 17 digs on the day.
"I'm very proud of how the team played today," Milwaukee head coach
Susie Johnson said. "Obviously we lost, and you never want to lose, but we played incredibly strong today. Our offense really turned it around and defensively we were much more in rhythm.
"Minnesota is a very talented team and they had to adjust to us today. All parts of the game were really solid for us. It's matches like this that get us ready for our league schedule and get us ready for another run at the Horizon League Championship."
Milwaukee showed that it was ready for the match right out of the gates. One of
Sammi Herron's 12 kills on the day gave UWM an early 10-7 lead over the nationally ranked Gophers.
Kaisa Mattson then stretched it to 16-13 with an ace. UM battled back and actually held two set points, but Milwaukee dug deep. Back-to-back kills by Mattson and Kolinske helped send the match to extras and kills by
Hannah Blanchard and Kolinske gave the Panthers the early 1-0 lead.
UWM had four service aces in the first set and
Kayla Price tallied 11 assists in the opening frame.The host Gophers looked to quickly regroup in the second, taking an early 7-5 lead. But, Milwaukee showed it meant business, battling right back with a 13-12 lead after a block by Price and
Jess Kalous. It was back-and-forth from there to the end, but a short run by Minnesota was capped by a block to close out the set.
It was much of the same until midway through the third set. Tied at 12, Minnesota got four kills (three straight) by Santana in just a few minutes time to pull ahead, 19-14. UWM did their best and pulled within four at 20-16, but could get no closer before falling.
The Panthers continued to fight, jumping out to a big early lead in the fourth. A pair of aces by Price and four-straight points with freshman
Mykie Olsen serving gave UWM a quick 10-3 lead. But, UM slowly was able to chip away at the Milwaukee lead before taking its first lead at 19-18 and putting the match away on a kill from Wilhite.
Milwaukee wraps up its weekend tournament with one more match on Saturday, taking on Tulsa at 4:30 p.m.
