HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Three players reached double figure kills for the Milwaukee women's volleyball team, but the errors built for the Panthers in a 3-1 loss to Northern Kentucky on Monday evening.
 
"It was a really hard-fought match," head coach Susie Johnson stated. "I thought we did a lot of good things, but we need to clean up our offense a little bit to be more effective."
 
Milwaukee (4-5, 4-5 Horizon League) put away 60 kills, a season-high for a four-set match, but recorded 30 attack errors and 11 service errors in the defeat.
 
Northern Kentucky (7-3, 6-3 Horizon League) took the opening frame 25-20 but Milwaukee quickly bounced back.
 
Behind five kills in seven swings from Ari Miller, Milwaukee hit .273 in a 25-23 set-two victory to even the match 1-1.
 
Milwaukee was the first to 10 in the third frame, but an 11-2 NKU run had the Norse in control at 19-12. From there, the home team rode the momentum to a 2-1 match lead.
 
Northern Kentucky gained the early ground in the fourth set but two kills apiece from Jenna Miller and Abby Koenen and another from Carmen Heilemann had MKE on top 18-15.
 
The Panthers pushed the lead to four at 21-17 but after three Milwaukee errors and two Norse kills, NKU pulled in front late.
 
Milwaukee fought to a 25-25 tie thanks to another Koenen kill but a service error and attack error ensued for the Panthers and the Norse took the frame and the match.
 
Koenen put away a career-high 17 kills and added nine digs for Milwaukee. A. Miller and Emma Loveall also reached double digits with 14 and 10, respectively.
 
"I thought Jess had a great defensive match and our setters played really well," Johnson said.
 
Grabowski totaled 27 digs to lead the Panthers' defense. Kaley Blake and Riley Vaughn each recorded double-doubles, totaling 43 assists and 20 digs.
 
Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky will meet for game two of the series tomorrow, March 9 at Regents Hall. First serve is scheduled for 2:00 pm with live coverage on MKEPanthers.com.