YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Milwaukee volleyball team improved to 4-0 in Horizon League play on Saturday afternoon, as the Panthers defeated the Youngstown State Penguins by a 3-1 score at the Beeghly Center.
 
Milwaukee (12-6, 4-0 Horizon) took the first two sets, winning the opener by a 25-20 score before recording a 25-17 win in the second set. YSU came back in the third to win the set by a 25-21 margin, but it was MKE to finish off the match with a 25-20 fourth-set victory.
 
"It was a good win against Youngstown," commented head coach Susie Johnson post game. "The fact that we could get two wins out of this tough road trip was great."
 
"Lakyn [Graves] and Madi [Malone] had great matches offensively," Johnson added. "Today was a gutsy match and we had to keep pushing to try to score and we were able to do that today and come out with a win."
 
The Panthers hit .250 on the match with 56 kills and 53 assists while adding a season-best nine aces. The Panthers also finished the contest with seven blocks.
 
Madi Malone led Milwaukee with a dozen kills, while Lakyn Graves notched a career-best 11 kills as she had her second-straight double-figure kill total on the afternoon, following Friday night's 10-kill performance. Czhen Beneby and Natalie Schmitz each had nine kills apiece, while Ari Miller added eight and Rachel Scott chipped in with four.
 
Kaley Blake had 24 of the team's 53 assists on the afternoon, while Josie Johnson had 20 assists. Miller led Milwaukee with three service aces, which is the most for Miller in one match since the team hosted Youngstown State on September 23 of last season. Blake had two aces on the match while four other Panthers contributed to the season-best nine.

Defensively it was Malone to lead the Panthers with 12 digs, while Sarah Schrader picked up 11 from her libero position. Graves helped the Panthers on the defensive side of the ball with a match-best five blocks, while Beneby had three and Miller added a pair.
 
In the opening set, Milwaukee led wire-to-wire after starting out the match with the first four points. The Panthers used brief bursts to extend its lead before going on a 5-1 run to turn a 13-11 advantage into a six-point lead at 18-12 capped off by a block by Beneby and Graves.
 
Youngstown State was only able to get back within two at 19-17 before the Panthers extended its lead with three unanswered on kills by Schmitz and Graves while Graves and Scott combined for an assisted block. The Panthers capped off the set with a block at the net by Beneby and Miller to give Milwaukee a 25-20 first-set win.
 
The Penguins took an early lead in the second set before Milwaukee was able to knot the score at seven before a four-point rally by the black and gold gave the Panthers an 11-7 lead. Later in the set, MKE rattled off five unanswered on a pair of kills by Schmitz, as well as kills by Beneby and Scott, while Blake notched a service ace in the run to put the Panthers ahead by a 22-14 score. An attacking error by Youngstown clinched the set for MKE at 25-17.
 
Milwaukee was unable to put the match away in the third set as the Panthers fell behind early only to fight back and tie the score at 16. With the score tied at 21, it was YSU to tally the final four points of the set to pick up its first set win of the afternoon by a 25-21 score to send the match to a fourth period.
 
Not wanting to go to a fifth set, the Panthers refocused and scored seven of the first nine points in the fourth set including a pair of kills by both Malone and Miller. YSU got back within one at 7-6 but Milwaukee scored six of the next seven points to gain a 13-7 lead.
 
Another 6-1 run by the Panthers ensued as the Milwaukee lead swelled to 10 at 19-9, before the Panthers had its largest lead of the set at 22-11. Youngstown State scored the next five points before a kill by Schmitz short-circuited the Penguin rally. Another four-point run by the Penguins was answered by the final two-points of the match on a kill by Beneby and a service ace by Blake to give Milwaukee the 3-1 team victory following the 25-20 set win.
 
Milwaukee will be back home for its next three matches beginning on Tuesday, October 3, when the Panthers welcome in the Phoenix of Green Bay for a 6:00 p.m. first serve from the Klotsche Center.