MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team dropped a four-set decision to the Cleveland State Vikings at home on Friday evening at the Klotsche Center.
 
Cleveland State took the opening set by a 26-24 score, before Milwaukee evened things with a 28-26 win in the second set. The Vikings picked up back-to-back wins in the remaining two sets by 25-21 and 25-20 scores.
 
With the loss, Milwaukee falls to third in the standings, with a 12-5 conference record, due to the head-to-head advantage that Green Bay holds over the Panthers. Milwaukee can still clinch a first-round bye as the second seed with a win over Oakland on Saturday and a Cleveland State win over Green Bay at the Kress Center in the season finale.
 
The match was even on the offensive side of the ball with both the Panthers and Vikings equal at 62 kills apiece, while assists were also deadlocked at 59 aside. Milwaukee hit .235 with 23 errors on 166 attacks, while Cleveland State had just 18 errors on 157 swings for a .280 hitting percentage. Cleveland State proved to be better on the defensive side of the ball with 13 blocks to Milwaukee's five and winning the dig battle by 10 at 73-63.
 
Three Panthers had double figures in kills on Friday evening, with Madi Malone leading the way with 21 as she ended the match with a team-best .429 hitting percentage. Natalie Schmitz added 17 kills on offense, while Ari Miller picked up a dozen kills. Bri Geurts had seven kills and Lakyn Graves chipped in with three.
 
With her 12 kills on the evening, Miller moved into second place on the all-time kills list with 1,544 and is now just 16 behind tying the all-time mark set by Ericka Malterer at 1,560 during her career, which spanned form 1996-99.
 
Malone also led the Panthers with a pair of service aces, while Miller along with Sarah Schrader and Josie Johnson each ended the night with an ace each. Johnson had her highest assist total since September 15 as she ended the evening with 29 helpers, while Kaley Blake was second on the team with 20 assists of her own.
 
Defensively it was Kati Goba to lead the Panthers with 16 digs, while Malone ended the night with a double-double as she amassed 14 digs in the back row. Johnson and Schrader each finished the night with nine digs apiece.
 
With three blocks, it was Miller to lead the defensive front, while Malone, Graves and a returning Rachel Scott ending the match with two blocks apiece.
 
The opening set was even early on before Milwaukee went on a four-points run to take a 10-7 lead on a kill by Geurts, consecutive kills by Malone and an ace by Johnson. The Panthers extended their lead to 12-8 on back-to-back kills by Miller. Cleveland State hung around and went on a five-point rally late in the set to get back within one at 22-21 before a kill by Goba gave Milwaukee a two-point advantage.
 
The Vikings scored the next three points to set up set point, but Schmitz was able to tie the score at 24 with a kill. Ultimately, Cleveland State hung on with the final two points of the set to take the early 1-0 lead.
 
Cleveland State took an early lead in the second set at 11-5 before Miller and Malone connected on consecutive kills to make it a four-point score. After a kill by the Vikings, Milwaukee scored the next three on kills by Malone and Schmitz to trim the CSU lead to 12-10. The Panthers got to within one, but the Vikings responded with three unanswered to open a 16-12 lead.
 
Milwaukee continued to hang with the Cleveland State offense and was able to tie the score at 20-20 before taking a 22-21 lead. Wright State scored the next two, opening a 24-22 advantage but after a successful challenge by the Panthers on what would have been the set-clinching point for the Vikings, Milwaukee fended off set point and was back within one. Neither side was able to get ahead on the scoreboard by two until a kill by Schmitz made it 27-26, before the Panthers put the finishing touch on the set win with a block by Graves and Malone to win the second set at 28-26.
 
In the third set, the Panthers trailed 6-3 before tying the score at six on kills by Schmitz and Geurts, while Schrader tied it up with an ace. The Panthers needed to play from behind and were able to tie the score again at 10 and 12 before taking a 15-14 lead on a block by Graves and Schmitz.

MKE was unable to add onto its lead as the score was tied at 20 before CSU took five of the final six points to move ahead on the scoreboard by a 2-1 score.
 
The fourth set saw Milwaukee play from behind again as Cleveland State opened a lead at 7-5 before the Panthers scored the next three points to take its first lead of the set at 8-7 on a kill by Miller. Both sides took leads over the ensuing possessions in the closely contested set before CSU went on a three-point run to take a 16-13 lead.
 
Milwaukee used a three-point rally of its own to get back within one at 19-18 before it was ultimately the Vikings to runaway late for the 25-20 fourth set win to take the match.
 
Milwaukee wraps up the regular season on Saturday afternoon, when the Panthers welcome the Oakland Golden Grizzlies to the Klotsche Center for a 4:00 p.m. first serve.