MILWAUKEE – Behind a season-best .330 hitting percentage, the Milwaukee volleyball team made quick work of the IU Indianapolis Jaguars on Friday evening for its first three-set win of the season, improving to 4-0 in Horizon League play.
 
The Panthers committed a season-low six errors on offense, while assisting on 31 of their 35 kills as a team. Milwaukee won the opening set, 25-17 before disposing of the Jaguars in a 25-14 second set. MKE finished off the sweep with a 25-18 set three victory.
 
Madi Malone and Natalie Schmitz paced the offense with eight kills apiece, while Rachel Scott had six and Bri Geurts collected five. Josie Johnson led the Panthers with 14 assists, while Milica Tomic added a dozen.
 
"Offensively we were very balanced," noted head coach Susie Johnson after the match. "I thought our execution of the offense: the pass, set, and the attack was really efficient, and we played with some great confidence."
 
The Panthers had just three blocks resulting in points on the scoreboard, but the block against the IU Indy attack was still efficient. The Jaguars hit just .075 while recording 25 errors on offense.
 
"The goal was to have a very effective block tonight … it was a good blocking scheme that we executed well as a team," added Johnson. "The blocking helped us with our dig, and we had a really good defensive effort behind it."
 
Kara Erdmann led with 10 digs, while Malone and Johnson each had seven. Scott also collected a season-best with four digs.
 
"We had a goal to be ready and assume it's coming to you, and we performed well within our game plan," Johnson concluded regarding the team's digging effort.
 
In the opening set, Milwaukee was unable to pull away until late in the stanza with six unanswered to finish off the set. The six-point run was both started and finished on kills by Geurts.
 
The Panthers put together a long offensive rally in the second set, including a 10-1 run to take a 10-3 lead. Milwaukee had another 6-1 run to extend its lead to 20-9 before Geurts was again able to finish off the set with a kill at 25-14.
 
Milwaukee built up a slim 10-8 lead in the third but had another offensive outburst to push ahead by six at 18-12. After the Jaguars scored five of the next six points, Milwaukee forged a 6-1 rally to cap off the win, including back-to-back kills by Schmitz and Scott to seal the victory.
 
The Panthers finished the match with nine service aces including a team-best four from Kati Goba with Johnson adding a pair. Lakyn Graves had four kills and two blocks and Alexis Lewis recorded two kills and a block.
 
Maia Long and Elle Patterson led IU Indy with seven kills apiece, while Grace Purichia had 20 assists. Carly Doros had three blocks to lead the defense up front, while Jordyn Pax had 13 digs defensively for the Jaguars.
 
Milwaukee and IU Indianapolis will meet again at the Klotsche Center on Saturday afternoon with first serve slated for 2:00 p.m. (CT).