FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Three Panthers had double figures in kills as the Milwaukee volleyball team picked up their fifth consecutive win on Saturday, knocking off the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons in four sets.
 
Natalie Schmitz had a team-best 14 kills and Madi Malone added a dozen, while Alexis Lewis had a season-high 11 kills and led the defense with six blocks on the afternoon.
 
Josie Johnson had a match-best three service aces and helped pace the offense with 27 assists. Milica Tomic had 12 assists, while Kara Erdmann had a career-best with 11 assists to go along with her team-leading 22 digs for the first double-double of her career. Erdmann's final dig of the match was also the 1,000th of her career.
 
The match saw a total of 13 lead changes and 25 ties as the back-and-forth matchup ended in the Panthers' favor. Milwaukee squeaked out an opening-set win, 26-24, before Purdue Fort Wayne tied the match with a 25-21 win in the second. The Panthers picked up a 25-23 win in the third, and won the fourth set, 25-20.
 
"Purdue Fort Wayne came out to play once again pushed us," said head coach Susie Johnson. "We were able to counter them throughout the match and come out on top in four sets. We have shown resilience all season long, but we really did a great job this whole weekend … I'm really proud of the whole team effort."
 
The Panthers ended the afternoon with 55 kills on 53 assists and had a .208 hitting percentage. By comparison, Purdue Fort Wayne had 50 kills on 48 assists but were only able to hit .135, hitting into 11 Panther blocks while Milwaukee had 74 digs to the 63 of PFW.
 
While Lewis led in blocks with six, Lakyn Graves and Rachel Scott each added five blocks. Malone had 13 digs with Schmitz and Johnson adding eight.
 
In set one, the Panthers hit a match-low .094 with 12 errors, which included six blocks by the Mastodons. However, Milwaukee was able to survive the set and win 26-24, behind five kills by Lewis, who also had two blocks in the period. Johnson had a match-best 10 assists, while Erdmann secured 10 of her digs in the opening set.
 
Panna Ratkai connected on seven of her team-best 16 kills in the second set for Purdue Fort Wayne, to help lead the Mastodons to the 25-21 second set win.
 
Milwaukee got back on track with a match-best .406 hitting percentage with 15 kills including five from Schmitz and four from Malone. Milwaukee led 20-18 before the Mastodons scored the next point before both sides went back and forth down the stretch as the Panthers held on for the two-point win on a kill by Lewis.
 
The fourth set was a stretch of runs for both teams as Milwaukee took a 23-16 lead, before the Mastodons scored four of the next five to make it 24-20. The Panthers were able to finish off the match on a kill by Malone to avoid the late Purdue Fort Wayne surge.
 
Graves finished the match with eight kills, Scott had six and Czhen Beneby added a pair.
 
Ratkai had 16 kills to lead the Mastodons, while Taya Haffner had 28 assists and Nicole Jones added three aces. Defensively, Purdue Fort Wayne got six blocks from both Abby Stratford and Mya Plemons, while LonDynn Betts tallied 22 digs.
 
Milwaukee will be back on the road next weekend when the Panthers visit Robert Morris beginning at 5:00 p.m. (CT) in Pennsylvania.