MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team fell in a back-and-forth matchup against Wright State on Saturday afternoon, as the Raiders narrowly escaped with a 15-13 fifth set win to earn the victory.
 
Junior Kara Erdmann set a new program record with 47 digs in a match that saw the Panthers record 118 digs as a team. The Panthers also had the advantage in kills at 66-63, assists at 63-59, and blocks at 11-6, but it was not enough as WSU converted timely points.
 
"The difference in the fifth set, and throughout the match, was their middles played exceptionally well and were unstoppable at times," said head coach Susie Johnson. "Overall, I thought our team fought really hard and showed a lot of grit today, but we weren't able to come out with the result we were looking for."
 
Milwaukee won the first set with a convincing 25-13 effort before Wright State answered with identical 25-23 scores to take a 2-1 set lead. The Panthers found their rhythm again in the fourth with a 25-15 win, but the Raiders were able to escape with the 15-13 win in the fifth. The loss drops Milwaukee (7-2 Horizon) a game behind Wright State (8-1 Horizon) with nine matches left to play in league play.
 
Madi Malone had 20 kills, with Natalie Schmitz adding 13 and Alexis Lewis connecting on 10 as Milwaukee hit .250 on the match including a .360 by Malone and a .364 by Lewis. Rachel Scott had nine kills with a .350 hitting percentage on offense.
 
Josie Johnson tallied a team-best 25 assists as Milica Tomic was two off the pace with 23. Johnson, Tomic, and Malone combined for Milwaukee's three aces.
 
Beyond Erdmann's record-setting performance, Malone had 18 digs as Tomic had 16, and Schmitz added 10 to finish with double-figures in digs. The team's 118 digs were four shy of tying the program record of 122 set back in 2000, also against Wright State.
 
Lakyn Graves had five blocks, while Lewis, Schmitz, and Scott each had four apiece.
 
"I'm proud of this team," Johnson added. "We're going to continue to grow and get better and today was just a part of that process."
 
Milwaukee won the first set with a 25-13 effort and were well on their way in the second set with a 19-14 advantage. Wright State scored the next four to get within one at 19-18, and used that momentum to take the second set, 25-23.
 
The Panthers had another sizable advantage early in the third at 13-6 before the Raiders took the set, 25-23, finishing the stanza on a 6-1 run including three errors by MKE.
 
Milwaukee had a match-high seven hitting errors in both the second and third sets but were able to refocus heading into the fourth. "Prior to the fourth set we had discussed our hitters playing at a higher level and we responded by limiting our errors over the final two sets," Johnson added.
 
The Panthers flipped the switch and won the fourth by a 25-15 score using a seven-point rally behind the service of Tomic to take a 10-6 lead. Malone got behind the service line late in the set and helped the Black & Gold put the set away with the final six, topped off by an ace.
 
The Panthers were first to eight in the fifth set, but back-to-back points by Wright State leveled the score. MKE regained a two-point lead by a pair of kills and a pair of aces tilted the lead in favor of the visitors. Despite the 20th kill of the match by Malone to close to within one at 14-13, the Raiders got the final point on a set to Reilly Zegunis.
 
Wright State's middles of Zegunis and Taylor Bransfield led the way with 19 and 18 kills, respectively, while Lauren Yacobucci had 54 assists and led the Raiders with five of their nine aces. Libero Jenny Wessing had a match-high 24 digs for WSU, which had five different players finish the match with double-digits in digs.
 
Milwaukee will wrap-up non-conference play next time out as the Panthers will make the short trip to the Al McGuire Center for a 7 p.m. start on Tuesday against Marquette.