Box Score HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Milwaukee volleyball team rallied late to take the first set against Northern Kentucky, but the Norse came away with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers put away 20 kills, hitting .378 in the first frame, but couldn't keep that pace as they fell in the final regular season road contest of the season.
 
"They played really well, and we just had too many errors down the stretch," commented head coach Susie Johnson. "We had moments where we were really good, but it just was not consistent enough. We couldn't sustain our highest level of play today."
 
 The Norse came out firing, jumping ahead to lead 9-4 and later 19-12 thanks to just one offensive error as they hit .379 in the frame. Trailing by seven, the Panthers than began to fire on all cylinders, rattling off a 6-0 run thanks to a pair of Jenna Miller service aces and kills from Louise Kiekhofer and Carmen Heilemann.
 
NKU responded with a couple kills and had Milwaukee on its heels trailing 23-21, but then Shari Volpis took over. The senior put away three straight kills to earn the Panthers' first lead since 2-1 and then Allison Grzebien followed with another to give MKE a 25-23 victory.
 
It was a similar story in the second set as Northern Kentucky pulled ahead early and Milwaukee rallied late. Down 17-11, the Panthers put together runs to pull within two multiple times. With a Norse set point at 24-21, Heilemann landed a kill and a block from Kylie Wilks and Ari Miller had Milwaukee within one, but this time, the Norse put away the final kill to take the frame 25-23.
 
In the third and fourth sets, the Panthers lost their consistency, totaling 18 errors and hitting .095. The two went back and forth in the third before a 3-0 Northern Kentucky run at 14-11 had the Norse up for good. NKU used another 4-0 run and then recorded four of the final five points to grab a 2-1 match lead.
 
Northern Kentucky once again grabbed an early lead in the fourth set and never looked back, hitting .282 with 15 kills in the frame. A kill from Wilks and two more from A. Miller gave the Panthers their best shot at overcoming the deficit at 20-19, but two Milwaukee errors and three Norse kills gave NKU the win.
 
Shari Volpis recorded her second straight match with double digit kills as she led the team with 14, hitting .256. A. Miller joined in double figures with 11 kills to go along with four total blocks.
 
Jenn Dore and Rylie Vaughn each recorded a double-double, combining for 47 assists and 21 digs.
 
Milwaukee will wrap up the regular season with two home matches against UIC and Green Bay. With just two matches remaining, the Panthers sit half a game out of first place in the Horizon League. Tickets and live coverage links for this weekend's matches can be found on MKEPanthers.com.