MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Despite a valiant effort to rally back from a 2-0 hole, the Milwaukee volleyball team dropped a 3-1 result to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night from the Klotsche Center.

"It came down to a little of that serving. They had a good game plan with the serve," head coach Susie Johnson commented. "We didn't get the blocks like we did last night. Offensively, it was pretty even. They just had some more blocks which was the difference. We showed a lot of fight and a lot of belief in the team. They were playing more as a team in that third set."
 
The Gauchos could do no wrong in the first two sets, hitting .509 with 33 kills to pull in front 2-0.
 
With UCSB (1-2) in front 20-17 in the third and carrying momentum, the Panthers' chances looked slim, but Milwaukee found its fight.
 
Behind kills from Ari Miller and Kleja Cerniauskaite, the Panthers (0-2) drew even with UCSB 22-22 and battled back-and-forth to five ties and three lead changes the rest of the set.
 
Trailing 28-27, Madi Malone put away a kill and Abby Koenen followed for a 29-28 lead. Following a lengthy rally, the Panthers earned a set victory after a Gauchos' error and cut the deficit to one.
 
 Malone and Miller did a majority of the damage in the third for MKE, combining for 12 kills.
 
Milwaukee continued to grind in the fourth set and kept it close, but a late run gave UCSB a 25-19 victory and the match.
 
 Miller recorded her second straight double-digit kill game, putting away 19 with a .424 attack percentage.
 
Malone reached double figure kills for the first time in her collegiate career, finishing with 10 kills and nine digs.

"Madi is settling in. I saw that about halfway through the match," Johnson said. "She's a very important piece to our puzzle on this teams so I'm glad to see that."

Kaley Blake reached a new career high with 28 assists and added eight digs for Milwaukee. Rylie Vaughn added 22 assist and seven digs.
 
Milwaukee wraps up the Panther Invite on Sunday with a 12:00 pm contest against Valparaiso. Live coverage links can be found on MKEPanthers.com.
 
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