Box Score MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee volleyball team took care of business on Tuesday, notching its fifth sweep of the season with a 3-0 win over Northern Illinois. The Panthers hit .405 in the opening set to pace the way in the win.
 
This past weekend, Milwaukee won nine of the ten sets it played, and the Panthers (9-1) showed no slowing down against Northern Illinois (3-9). The offense was clicking from the start as they recorded 18 kills with just three errors.
 
"We started off strong," head coach Susie Johnson stated. "Their focus, obviously, is to counter what we were doing. They came out stronger and pushed us more, but I am excited about grinding out that win."
 
The Panthers took advantage of errors from the Huskies as MKE pulled ahead 11-9 after a kill from Jenna Miller and three NIU miscues. Northern Illinois regained the lead at 13-2, but kills from Kleja Cerniauskaite and Shari Volpis and two more Huskies errors had Milwaukee out in front 16-3.
 
Northern Illinois cut its deficit to one at 20-19 but Kylie Wilks laded a pair of attacks and Cerniauskaite and Ari Miller followed with kills as well to put Milwaukee up 1-0.
 
The teams traded blows in the second set as each hit over .350. NIU had just three errors in the frame and they came on three consecutive plays to put Milwaukee up 11-9. The visitors battled back to match the Panthers at 17 but Cerniauskaite and J. Miller pushed across three consecutive kills for the lead.
 
From there, MKE matched every NIU kill down the stretch. At 24-22, Carmen Heilemann came through with a slam and J. Miller put the Panthers up 2-0 with her first ace of the match.
 
Despite a quick lead in the third for MKE, the Huskies were not ready to bow out early. NIU rattled off five consecutive points before the Panthers responded with a 9-1 run of their own to go up five.
 
The Huskies scored four of the next five but a crucial kill from J. Miller stopped a run. At 23-20, Wilks came through with a monster kill and Milwaukee recorded the sweep after an attack from Kaitlyn Bell went wide.
 
"This team really works together well," Johnson said. "They sense what they need to do when someone is having a harder time picking up the pace. They are easy to coach because they respond well to strategy and changes within the match."
 
J. Miller put away a career-high 10 kills and hit .529 for the match. Additionally, the junior tallied a pair of digs, two assisted blocks, and a service ace.
"Jenna worked really hard and played really quick. Our setters had a good game plan for her, and she executed great," Johnson said as she commented on the career night. "It was really nice to see for her."
 
A. Miller joined in double digits with 10 as six different players recorded at least five kills. Wilks was all over the floor, totaling 11 digs, five kills, two assists, and an ace.
 
Defensively, Jess Grabowski led with 18 digs while Mati Jakscht and Rylie Vaughn recorded five apiece. Vaughn led the team with 24 assists while Jenn Dore dished up 18 assists and a pair of digs.
 
Next, the Panthers head to Brookings, S.D. for the Jackrabbit Invitational. Milwaukee will face Kansas City on Friday at 10:00 am to open the tournament. Live stats can be found on MKEPanthers.com.