ROCHESTER, Mich. – In yet another key Horizon League matchup, the Milwaukee volleyball team cruised to a three-set win over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Friday evening at the Athletics Center O'Rena.
 
The Panthers won the opening set by a 25-18 margin, before winning the second set by a 25-12 score. In the third, the Panthers took the set by a 25-9 score matching its season-best set score, which equaled the mark from Milwaukee's second set win at home against Purdue Fort Wayne on September 23.
 
With the win the Panthers improve to 7-1 in Horizon League contests, with one remaining match until the halfway point of the conference schedule.
 
MKE controlled the stat sheet by doubling the Golden Grizzlies in points at 52-26, while also recording 40 kills to Oakland's 23. The Panthers had four aces and 38 assists in comparison to one ace and 23 assists for the home team. On the defensive side of the ball, Milwaukee had eight blocks versus Oakland's two, while the Panthers out dug the Golden Grizzlies at a 40-28 margin.
 
"That was a complete performance for us, an all-around effort both offensively and defensively," commented Susie Johnson. "Our middles were on point as our setters were finding them well tonight."
 
"Defensively, I thought we controlled the net very well," added Johnson. "One of our team goals was to finish with more digs than Oakland, and we were able to accomplish that with more digs than one of the top digging teams in the country."
 
As a team Milwaukee hit .357 with its 40 kills against 10 errors on 84 attempts for its third-best hitting percent of the season. The Panthers also held Oakland to a meager .021 hitting percentage, the second-best defensive performance for Milwaukee this season.
 
Madi Malone recorded double-digit kills for the sixth consecutive match as she led the team with 11 on the night. Ari Miller was second on the team with eight kills with a .583 hitting percentage.
 
Lakyn Graves hit .571 on the night with four kills, while Bri Geurts had four kills as well. Natalie Schmitz tallied seven kills of her own, with Czhen Beneby adding four and Josie Johnson going 2-for-2 in her attempts.
 
Kaley Blake had 18 assists, and one of Milwaukee's four service aces along with Johnson, Malone and Kara Erdmann. Johnson also had a dozen assists, while Erdmann picked up six of her own. Erdmann also led Milwaukee with 15 digs, while Blake and Johnson each had seven.
 
Up front, Milwaukee was led by Geurts and Miller with four blocks each, while Beneby and Graves each had three.
 
Oakland scored the first point of the match in what proved to be the only time that the Golden Grizzlies led all night. A ball handling error by Oakland gave Milwaukee its first point of the night, followed by three more errors by the Golden Grizzlies to give Milwaukee a 4-1 lead.
 
The Panthers got their offense going with a 6-5 lea as MKE scored the next four points including kills by Malone and Graves, while Graves and Geurts combined on a block. The Panthers had a 5-2 run midway through the set to take a 20-13 lead on another block by Geurts and Graves before Milwaukee finished off the set with the final two points capped off by a Graves solo block to give the visiting team a 25-18 first set win.
 
Malone opened the scoring in the second set with a kill before Oakland evened the score at one. The black and gold scored the next four points including a kill by Miller, an ace by Malone and a block by Beneby and Miller. The Golden Grizzlies were only able to get back within two at 6-4 before MKE pulled away.
 
With the Panthers leading by a 15-10 score midway through the second set, Milwaukee scored the next six points, which included a pair of kills by Graves, a kill by Schmitz and an ace by Blake as Milwaukee led by 11 at 21-10. The Golden Grizzlies a point to shrink the deficit back to 10 before Milwaukee capped the period with three-straight kills, by Geurts, Schmitz, and Malone.
 
The third set was tied at four before the next four points were scored by Milwaukee. Oakland sliced back into the lead with two-straight points as the Panthers led by an 8-6 score. In one of its biggest runs of the season, Milwaukee closed out the third set on a 17-3 run, which included a burst of 11-1. The final pair of kills came on back-to-back swings by Beneby as Milwaukee took the set by a 25-9 score.
 
Milwaukee will look to finish off the first half of Horizon League play with a win, when the team resumes league competition at 3:00 p.m. (CT) as the Panthers will visit Cleveland State at Woodling Gymnasium.