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Jess Kalous, celebration
Jess Kalous
0
Oakland OAK 18-12, 10-6 HL
3
Winner Milwaukee UWM 14-12, 8-7 HL
Oakland OAK
18-12, 10-6 HL
0
Final
3
Milwaukee UWM
14-12, 8-7 HL
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Oakland OAK 19 16 17 (0)
Milwaukee UWM 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Volleyball |

Panthers Sweep Past Oakland

Team clinches fifth seed for conference tournament

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Panthers were as sharp as could be in a 3-0 sweep of Oakland University Friday night from the Klotsche Center.
 
UWM trailed for just nine points the whole match and played extremely efficiently to cruise to the win, 25-19, 25-16, 25-17 in just 1 hour, 23 minutes.
 
"The message this week has just been to control what you can control. Tonight, that's exactly what we did," Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson said. "We were very focused right from the start tonight, and it showed. Our defense was great, our blocking was strong, we were very balanced – this was just a very good team win for us."
 
Jess Kalous had a monster night, registering an impressive eight blocks in the three setter – including three solo – to go with her seven kills.
 
Louise Kiekhofer and Kylie Wilks led the Panther attack with nine kills apiece, while Bridget Wallenberger added another eight.
 
Defensively, senior Myanna Ruiz had 16 digs to lead all players.
 
Jenn Dore continued to excel as one of the league's top setters, tallying a game-high 27 assists as Milwaukee hit .265 for the match, including over .300 in the first two sets.
 
With both teams coming off a loss, the early momentum would play an important factor. Oakland claimed an early lead out of the gates at 6-5, but it would turn out to be the last lead the Golden Grizzlies would hold all match. Things stayed close until the midway point when UWM ballooned an 11-10 edge into a 22-12 lead. OU tried to make a late comeback, but a smash by Kiekhofer gave the Panthers the early set advantage.
 
It was all UWM in the second. Fueled by continued stellar play at the net, Milwaukee stormed out to leads of 5-0 and 10-3. Oakland chipped away and tried their best to break the Panthers with a push to cut the lead to 16-12, but that turned out to be as close as they would get, with Milwaukee finishing the match on a 5-1 spurt.
 
Up 2-0, the Panthers were hungry for the sweep, and it showed on the court. UWM again came out firing to the tune of a 9-3 lead. OU was able to steal some of that momentum back to cut the lead to 13-10, but the Panthers once again stayed calm and responded with a 4-1 run of their own to stretch the lead back to 17-11 before closing things out on an emphatic kill from Taylor Mansfield to complete the sweep.
 
Milwaukee had 10 blocks as a team Friday and held Oakland to just .071 hitting – the second-lowest OU has been held to this season.
 
Hidden in the stat sheet was the seven aces by Milwaukee – with two each from Ruiz, Wallenberger and Wilks, and one more by Mykie Olsen.
 
Milwaukee closes out the regular season Saturday with a 4 pm match against Valparaiso from the Klotsche Center. Saturday's match will also be "Senior Day" for the UWM, with the Panthers honoring their three seniors before the match.
 
 
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