Box Score MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Hannah Blanchard pounded home 13 kills but the rest of the offense just couldn't seem to get on track as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team fell to a red-hot Tulsa Saturday evening at the Sports Pavilion.
Playing in its final match at the Diet Coke Classic, UWM (4-6) fought hard all match long, but Tulsa (6-3) forced the Panthers into 23 errors on the match in a 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 defeat.
Kayla Price tallied another 31 assists in the match and was named to the all-tournament team.
"This was a tough match for us tonight," Milwaukee head coach
Susie Johnson said. "We knew coming in to this tournament that we were going to go up against three very strong opponents. We played very all weekend long and got better in a lot of different areas. And yes, we struggled some tonight, but made some strides going forward and we're getting closer and closer to where we want to be heading into league play."
Milwaukee opened the match up with a quick 4-1 lead following a
Julie Kolinske kill. Tulsa responded quickly though, rattling off 10 of the next 11 points to lead 11-5. The Panthers didn't quit, however, and battled back to tie things up at 15 all after a kill by Blanchard and a Tulsa service error. But from there the Hurricanes took control, closing it out on back-to-back blocks.
UWM again fought hard in the second set. Blanchard collected four of her kills in the second frame, but the Panthers could never get within striking distance as Tulsa's Ashley Hooper finished things off with one of her seven kills.
In the third set, the Panthers again showed their fight.
Jess Kalous made it 4-1 with a kill in the early going and a block by
Kaisa Mattson and Kolinske followed by a Kolinske kill made it 20-15 late in the set. But the Hurricanes went on a 10-3 run to finish the set and end the match.
The Panthers have one more challenging tournament ahead on the schedule before heading into Horizon League play. UWM will head to the MSU Spartan Invitational next weekend, taking on Western Kentucky and LIU Brooklyn Friday before going up against the host Michigan State Saturday.
