PEORIA, IIl. – The Milwaukee volleyball team found its groove in the third set and rattled off three straight frames for a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over Bradley in an exhibition on Wednesday night.
 
After losing a pair of late leads in the first two sets, the Milwaukee volleyball team quickly found themselves in a 2-0 hole against Bradley in Wednesday evening's exhibition. The Panthers shook off the deficit, gained momentum, and bounced back for a 3-2 comeback victory behind 72 kills from the offense.
 
"We needed to figure out our rhythm and we were able to do that partway through the third set," Head Coach Susie Johnson commented. "We figured out a lineup to help us get into a groove."
 
A groove was exactly right as the Panthers found one early in the third set. Milwaukee jumped out to a 14-9 lead thanks to kills from Kleja Cerniauskaite, Kylie Wilks, Ari Miller, and Shari Volpis.
 
Bradley erased that early five-point deficit to take their first lead at 19-18, but Milwaukee was determined to bounce back. Down 22-20, Louise Kiekhofer and Allison Grzebien each put away a kill and three straight errors gave MKE a 25-22 victory.
 
Offense shined in the fourth as the Panthers hit .262 with 18 kills including five from Ari Miller and four from Makenzie Mroczenski. Up 11-10, Milwaukee rattled off an 8-3 run to pull ahead by six. Bradley cut the deficit to three after a Panthers' error, but that was as close as they got as MKE hammered home four more kills to take the fourth 25-20 and tie the match.
 
"Shari produced pretty well offensively as did Ari and Kleja which is what we need," Johnson continued. "We also had a lot of contributions from defense. Jess Grabowski was incredible on defense, finishing with 37 digs."
 
Momentum was with Milwaukee in the fifth and everything was clicking, keeping Bradley off balance. The Panthers used a pair of Cerniauskaite kills to run out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back. Milwaukee totaled 11 digs and a pair of blocks in the deciding frame as they held Bradley to a -.053 hitting percentage, completing the comeback with a 15-6 set victory.
 
"The stability of our defense helped our team and frustrated them. I was happy to see the energy positive and the team stick together. Glad we had the opportunity to come here for our exhibition match," Johnson stated.
 
Volpis led the Panthers with 18 kills while Ari Miller and Cerniauskaite joined in double figures with 14 and 11, respectively.
 
Milwaukee totaled 97 digs with Grabowski's 37 leading the charge. Both Rylie Vaughn (38 assists, 10 digs) and Jenn Dore (21 assists, 10 digs) tallied double-doubles for the Panthers.
 
After one and a half more weeks of practice, Milwaukee heads to Nashville to open the regular season at the Bruiser Showcase. The Panthers' opener is scheduled for 9:30 am against Arkansas State. Live stats can be found on www.mkepanthers.com.