MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team played its middle match of the 2024 Panther Invitational against St. Thomas with the visiting Tommies picking up the three-set sweep on Saturday afternoon, 25-21, 25-22, and 25-16.
 
A strong defensive effort and serve game were major differences in the match to help St. Thomas' effort. The Tommies recorded eight more digs at 55-47 and collected nine aces to Milwaukee's two.
 
Ellie Gustafson and Tezra Rudzitis had a team-best 15 kills apiece to lead St. Thomas, while Lauren Galvin added 13. Morgan Kealy had 42 assists and recorded the double-double with 10 digs. Elle Voegele had a team-best 18 digs and had three of the team's nine aces.
 
"Hats off to St. Thomas, they played a great match," said Susie Johnson after the match. "They really forced us to need to pick up our effort, it was really hard for us to respond consistently."
 
Both teams had just 10 attacking errors in total, but the third set was where the difference was made with the Tommies connecting on 16 kills to Milwaukee's eight. St. Thomas finished the match hitting .359 while Milwaukee hit .288.
 
Bri Geurts had a team-high 11 kills, while Natalie Schmitz had 10 on the afternoon. Madi Malone had eight kills against zero errors and Lakyn Graves had six kills. Josie Johnson had 22 assists and had the team's two aces on the night, while Milica Tomic tallied 16 assists.
 
Kara Erdmann picked up a team-best 17 digs. While Milwaukee added a pair of blocks defensively, a solo by Alexis Lewis, and an assisted block by Bella Lipski and Rachel Scott.
 
In the first, Milwaukee led 10-9 but three unanswered by St. Thomas gave the Tommies a two-point advantage. The set remained close as Milwaukee was only able to tie it at 17 before St. Thomas kept answering the Panther points to take the set win.
 
The second set was back-and-forth with Milwaukee taking a 20-19 lead on a kill by Geurts down the middle of the court. St. Thomas yet again responded with the next four before kills by Malone and Lewis got MKE within one at 23-22. The Tommies finished off the set to earn the 25-22 victory.
 
St. Thomas stormed out to a quick lead in the third with the first 10 points, and extending its lead to 14 at 20-6. Milwaukee got consecutive aces by Johnson and a strong service run by Tomic to get within eight at 23-15 before the Tommies finished off the set, 25-16.
 
Milwaukee wraps up the 2024 edition of the Panther Invitational on Sunday afternoon, taking on the Iowa Hawkeyes at 1:00 p.m. at the Klotsche Center.