ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Milwaukee volleyball team took advantage of late set runs and earned a 3-0 sweep of Oakland on Friday night.
 
"That was a good match, it was an important match," head coach Susie Johnson said. "We had to compete, and we did in three. It's nice to have Ari [Miller] back. She was spectacular offensively. I thought our passing was really good. We started strong defensively and had some adversity throughout the match. It was a great win for us."
 
Tied at 20-20 in each of the first two sets, the Panthers finished the first set on a 5-1 run and the second on a 5-0 run on their way to a sweep.
 
In the first, Milwaukee (10-17, 9-7 Horizon League) hit under .100, but did its job on defense, racking up 22 digs to hold Oakland to a .000 attack percentage. Tied at 20-20, Czhen Beneby tallied a block and a kill to fuel a run and hand the Panthers a 25-21 victory.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (10-17, 6-9 Horizon League) and the Panthers fought to 12 ties and seven lead changes in the second set alone, but after an Oakland kill to knot it at 20, the Panthers took over.
 
Beneby and Ari Miller recorded kills and Miller followed with a block in a 5-0 spurt to end it 25-20 and put MKE in front 2-0.
 
Seeing her first action since October 18, Miller took over in the third. The junior hit .556 with six kills in the set to pace MKE. Tied 8-8, the Panthers rattled off six straight points and never looked back.
 
Oakland pushed late but a kill and block from Miller and another slam from Natalie Schmitz finished it 25-19.
 
Miller led the Panthers with 12 kills and four blocks.
 
Madi Malone totaled a team-high 13 digs and added nine kills for the Panthers.
 
Josie Johnson dished out 19 assists to go with four digs while Kaley Blake had 11 assists and six digs.
 
Milwaukee will head to Cleveland State next to take on the Vikings tomorrow at 3:00 pm CT.
 
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