SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Milwaukee volleyball team had a hard time getting anything going offensively in Friday's season opener and dropped a 3-0 decision to Mississippi State at the Irish Invitational.
 
"Mississippi state is an NCAA tournament team, and they came to play," head coach Susie Johnson said. "They ran an extremely fast offense. I thought we did an excellent job passing but it was difficult for us to score. They are big and physical at the net which made it hard for our attackers.
 
The Panthers were held to just 18 kills and a .000 attack percentage in the season opener.
 
Natalie Schmitz got her first taste of collegiate volleyball with an opening kill to get it started for MKE in the first frame. Early on, however, Mississippi State responded with four straight kills to take control and never looked back.
 
The Panthers were charged with four attack errors and four service errors in the first, falling 25-16.
 
Errors plagued MKE again in the second, committing five from the service line and hitting -.057 with six errors on the attack. It allowed the Bulldogs once again to take control early and hand Milwaukee a 25-15 setback.
 
In the third, Mississippi State capitalized for an 11-2 run to jump in front 15-7 and nearly seal the sweep.
 
Bri Geurts put away a pair of kills but again, errors hurt Milwaukee and the Panthers fell 25-14.
 
Geurts finished with a team-high five kills on 10 swings while Schmitz recorded four kills in her first collegiate match.
 
Sarah Schrader had 15 digs to lead the defense while Kaley Blake totaled 14 assists and 7 digs.
 
The Panthers will return to Purcell Pavilion tomorrow morning to take on Texas Tech at 11:00 am CT.
 
Follow along this season with the Panthers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as well as the web at MKEPanthers.com.