SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Milwaukee volleyball team battled to five sets with Bowling Green on Saturday but fell in five 3-2 to the Falcons at the Shamrock Invitational.
 
"It was a really hard match. Defensively, in terms of digs, our defenders did a great job with passing and defense, but they are a very strong team," head coach Susie Johnson commented. "We battled but had a hard time settling in in the fifth set. They were serving really tough and attacking very aggressively and it was tough to counter."
 
The Panthers (1-4) took the first frame 25-23 behind 18 kills from the offense and solid defensive play.
 
Bowling Green (3-2) responded with back-to-back wins in the second and third before Milwaukee had its own chance to bounce back in the fourth frame.
 
Behind a pair of kills from Carmen Heilemann and another from Madi Malone, Milwaukee used a 5-0 run to run to a 19-12 lead. The Falcons cut it to five, but a kill from Ari Miller and block from Bri Guerts and Kleja Cerniauskaite helped MKE force a fifth with a 25-17 victory.
 
In the fifth, the Milwaukee offense was keeping pace with Bowling Green and had it tied 10-10 but a 3-0 run had the Falcons in control.
 
An error ended the stretch and pulled the Panthers within two but two more Bowling Green kills ended it for the Falcons.
 
Milwaukee racked up 92 digs led by Jess Grabowski's 24. Four others finished in double digits including Malone with 17 and Kaley Blake and Sarah Schrader with 16 apiece.
 
Blake also finished with a team-high 31 assists while teammate Rylie Vaughn had 24 assists and 10 digs.
 
Offensively, Malone led with 18 kills and a .318 attack percentage while Miller put away 17 kills.
 
The Panthers will wrap up the Shamrock Invitational with Notre Dame tomorrow at 1:00 pm CT.
 
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