FORT WAYNE, Ind. – For the second time this season it was a Friday night reverse sweep for the Milwaukee volleyball team as the Panthers defeated host Purdue Fort Wayne by a 3-2 margin at the Gates Sports Center.
 
The win was Milwaukee's eighth in 10 Horizon League matches this season, as the Panthers finish the season series with a pair of wins against the Mastodons. The win was Milwaukee's second reverse sweep of the season, as the Panthers also accomplished the feat on September 15 against Air Force.
 
After dropping the first two sets, the Panthers won the third by a 33-31 score, before a 25-12 fourth set win and a 15-11 winner in the fifth to take the match.
 
Milwaukee hit .316 in the final three sets including a match-high 21 kills in the third set and finished the evening hitting .222 with 61 kills as a team on 59 assists.
 
"Reverse sweeps take a lot of effort and tonight we showed a lot of confidence, and I was really proud of our team for that," said head coach Susie Johnson following the win. "Credit to Purdue Fort Wayne, they were playing at a high level and controlled play early in the match."
 
"It took us a while to get into our rhythm offensively, and we really started clicking after winning the third set 33-31," Johnson added. "Madi [Malone] with 26 kills and Kara [Erdmann] with 22 digs played important roles for us tonight, individually."
 
With the win, Johnson won her 300th collegiate head coaching victory with 280 of those coming at the helm of the Panthers, while her initial 20 wins came during her first head coaching tenure at Parkside.


Madi Malone led the Panthers with a season-high 26 kills, including seven each in both the third and fourth sets before tallying her last five kills in the fifth period. Malone also ended the match with 18 digs in the effort.
 
Also setting season highs were Kara Erdmann with 22 digs, while Kaley Blake registered a season-best with 32 assists and was one shy of tying her career-high of 33 set a season ago at Notre Dame.
 
Ari Miller had a team-best six blocks on the night to give her 424 career blocks as she moves into third place on the all-time blocks list in Panther history. Miller also had nine kills on the evening to help contribute to Milwaukee's 61 on the evening.
 
Bri Geurts and Lakyn Graves each had five blocks apiece on the night, while Graves added seven kills. Following Erdmann and Malone's dig total both Blake and Sarah Schrader ended the night with 11 digs, the 327 digs for Schrader this season is a career-best breaking her previous career high of 324 set as a junior in 2022.
 
Rounding out the offensive numbers were Natalie Schmitz with 13 kills, while Czhen Beneby added four. Malone and Josie Johnson each had one ace, with Johnson adding 20 assists on offense. Bella Lipski made her collegiate debut and recorded one kill and a pair of blocks.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne took the first set by a 25-21 score and the second set at 25-17.
 
The Mastodons led 14-11 in the third set before the Panthers chipped away and tied the score at 17. Miller put down a kill off a pass from Schrader to give Milwaukee an 18-17 advantage. Purdue Fort Wayne regained a one-point lead at 25-24, before the Panthers scored the next two and led at 26-25.
 
Both teams exchanged leads in the extra serves in the latter stages of the third set as Milwaukee fell behind 31-30. Malone got a kill to even the score before Miller connected on a kill to put the Panthers within set point, Malone was able to finish off the set as Blake had helpers on all three of the final kills as MKE trailed by a 2-1 score heading to the fourth.
 
After exerting its offense through the first three sets, Milwaukee took advantage of the Mastodon miscues in the fourth while putting together a fierce offensive attack to take the first five points in the fourth set.

The Panthers led by a 12-3 score, as the Milwaukee lead swelled to 19-12. MKE finished off the fourth set with the final six points of the stanza including a pair of kills by Malone and a pair of assisted blocks by Geurts and Miller as the Panthers tied the match at two sets apiece.
 
In the fifth, Milwaukee continued to flex offensively while thwarting the Mastodon offensive attempts. The Panthers led by an 8-1 score, but Purdue Fort Wayne answered back and trimmed the MKE lead to 11-8. Both sides exchanged points before it was ultimately a service error by the Mastodons sealed the Panther victory.
 
Milwaukee gets back to action tomorrow afternoon in Indianapolis as the Panthers will visit the IUPUI Jaguars for a 3:00 p.m. (CT) first serve from 'The Jungle'.