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Myanna Ruiz
Junior Myanna Ruiz
3
Winner Missouri State MSU 3-0
0
Milwaukee UWM 2-1
Winner
Missouri State MSU
3-0
3
Final
0
Milwaukee UWM
2-1
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Missouri State MSU 25 25 25 (3)
Milwaukee UWM 23 18 22 (0)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Bears Sneak By Panthers In Tournament Championship

Ruiz, Price named to all-tournament team

MILWAUKEE – Lily Johnson had 15 kills and Kinsey Batten added 36 assists as Missouri State was able to sneak by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball in a very close 3-0 win by the Bears in the final match of the Panther Invitational Saturday night at the Klotsche Center.
 
UWM was right there in all three sets before falling 25-23, 25-18, 25-22.
 
The loss is the first of the season for Milwaukee, falling to 2-1 in taking second place on the weekend tournament. Missouri State moves to 3-0 following the tournament win.
 
"Missouri State is a very good team. They're going to be a contender in the Missouri Valley and I thought we played them tough," Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson said. "We needed to be better after 20 points. I thought we let them off the hook a little bit, but they earned it.
 
"We continued to play a lot of different people. I think this is a great team that we have and we're just going to continue to grow and get better as the season goes on.
 
Maggie Dunbar led the way with 12 kills for Milwaukee, while Sammi Herron added nine. Kayla Price added another 28 assists and Myanna Ruiz registered another 10 digs.
 
Price and Ruiz were both named to the six-member all-tournament team.
 
"I thought those two were the steady players for us over the weekend," Johnson said. "There are going to be some bumps and bruises during the season and our players are maturing all around, but especially those two. Myanna was very steady and did an excellent job this weekend and Kayla ran a good offense and kept calm. We'll continue to get better but those two did a great job for us this weekend."
 
Milwaukee opened set one jumping out to a quick 7-2 lead after a kill by Dunbar. The two teams traded points until being knotted up at 16-apiece. From there, MSU was able to just sneak by to take the first set.
 
In set two, it was the Bears' turn to take the early lead with a 6-1 start to the frame. Milwaukee went on a tear, rattling off eight-straight points with freshman Teagan Taylor at the serve to claim a 12-8 advantage. It was back-and-forth from there on out until MSU put together the final four points for the 2-0 lead.
 
The Bears were again able to claim an early lead in set three, but Milwaukee showed their grit in fighting their way back. Down 8-2, the Panthers used two good runs to level things up at 17-17. But, again MSU was able to find a way to eek out another close win for the victory.
 
"This weekend showed that we have a very deep bench this weekend and that our defense is very, very strong," Johnson said. "We need to work on our serving and putting the ball away sooner, but we can tweak that. This is a wonderful team to coach and we're just planning on getting better every day."
 
It's a quick turnaround for the Panthers, hitting the road for the first time this season for a single game against Northern Illinois Monday at 6 p.m.

All-Tournament Team:
Kinsey Batten (MVP) - MSU
Lynsey Wright - MSU
Lily Johnson - MSU
Myanna Ruiz - UWM
Kayla Price - UWM
Annie Bierman - FU
 
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