MILWAUKEE – The home season got underway for the Milwaukee volleyball team on Monday evening, as the Panthers played host to the Northwestern Wildcats inside the Klotsche Center. After splitting the first two sets, the Panthers won the third and fourth sets to defeat the visiting Wildcats by 25-23, 14-25, 25-22, and 25-23 scores.
 
Monday evening's win was the Panthers' first-ever victory over the Wildcats in six tries, dating back to their first meeting in mid-September of 1994. It was also Milwaukee's first win over an opponent from the Big Ten Conference since the 2003 season, when the Panthers defeated Purdue in a neutral site match in late August of that season.
 
The win is also head coach Susie Johnson 's first-ever win over a Big Ten Conference foe, while it is the program's fourth-ever win over a team from that league. The program has two wins all-time against the Boilermakers from Purdue, while also recording one win against the Wisconsin Badgers, the initial win against Purdue and the win over Wisconsin both came during the 1999 campaign.
 
"Tonight, was a really important win for our team," commented Johnson post game. "We've been working through a lot of things, especially with our rhythm. Natalie [Schmitz] worked hard to get to her kill total, and our passing was really in system, while our back row did a great job of getting the ball to the setters."

"With these early season matches, we're really trying to find our groove, and our goal today was to compete on every touch of the ball and every play and see what the outcome it," Johnson added. "This team has really found their ability to compete in stressful moments and staying calm and we really needed to dig in at times tonight because they're a big and physical team, so we're really excited about this win."
 
Milwaukee ended the night with 52 kills on 47 assists, led by Natalie Schmitz with a team-best 17 kills on the evening to match her season and career-best marks. Madi Malone added 10 kills, while Ari Miller had nine, with Czhen Beneby adding eight of her own.
 
Josie Johnson led Milwaukee with 25 assists, while Kaley Blake recorded 15. The Panther service game was able to connect on five aces, just one shy of its season-high mark, with Sarah Schrader leading the way with a pair of aces.
 
Schrader also led the defensive digging effort as the Milwaukee libero on the night with 19 digs. Johnson added nine digs, while Blake had a half dozen digs. The Panthers also ended the night with eight blocks including six by Miller, who along with Beneby and Lakyn Graves each had one solo block apiece on the night.
 
Milwaukee continued to ride the wave from winning its two most recent matches in Minnesota this past weekend and got off to a quick start in its home opener. The Panthers built up an 11-6 lead on back-to-back kills by Malone, before taking a 16-8 lead on yet another kill by Malone.
 
Northwestern scraped their way back into the match and trailed by four at 22-18, but the Panthers scored the next two points and needed one more to take the opening set. The Wildcats fought back to within one at 24-23 but Malone capped off the set with her fifth kill of the stanza.
 
The Panthers trailed by a 5-3 margin in the second set and their offense got stuck in neutral as Northwestern built up an 11-3 advantage. The Wildcat lead swelled to 19-8 before the black and gold rattled off four unanswered behind a trio of kills from Miller, Beneby, and Schmitz. Ultimately it was Northwestern to close out the set with the final three points to even the match at one set apiece behind a 25-14 performance.
 
After the break, it was Milwaukee's turn to go on an extended run to open the third set, taking six of the first eight points, taking advantage of five Northwestern errors. The Wildcats were eventually able to tie the match at 11 before taking a two-point lead at 15-13.
 
However, the Panthers responded well with six of the next seven points of the match, including kills by Schmitz, Malone, and Rachel Scott to take a 20-16 advantage. The next several rallies saw points split evenly, but the Panthers notched the 25-22 win on the set-clincher by Schmitz.
 
In the fourth, the score was tied at 16 through the first 32 serves, before Bri Geurts sparked a rally with a kill ahead of Malone adding another kill followed by a pair of Northwestern errors to give the Panthers a 20-16 lead.
 
After the Wildcats regained the lead at 23-22, Beneby got a key kill to even the score before Blake notched a service ace. Fittingly it was Schmitz to put the capper on the evening with a kill to secure the historic win for the Panthers on Monday evening.
 
Milwaukee heads back on the road looking to extend its winning streak to four, as the Panthers will first take on Idaho in its 999th Division I contest at 10:00 a.m., before playing Western Illinois later in the day on Friday at 3:00 p.m. as part of the SIUE Tournament in Edwardsville, Illinois.