CHICAGO – Milwaukee's offense was kept off-balance throughout the afternoon as the UIC Flames picked up a four-set win over the Panthers at the McGrath-Phillips Arena on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Panthers had 34 attacking errors, hitting into 17 UIC blocks on the match. Milwaukee won the opening set 25-21, but the Flames took the next three, 25-22, 25-16, 25-15.
 
MKE ended the afternoon with a .076 hitting percentage with 21 attacking errors over the final two sets. Blocks were in favor of UIC at 17-7, while the Flames had a one dig advantage at 76-75.
 
"UIC had a response for our offense with a really strong blocking effort, and that just led to too many hitting errors for us today," said head coach Susie Johnson.
 
Milwaukee had the upper hand in kills at 47-44, led by Madi Malone with 14 kills while Bri Geurts tied her season-best with 11.
 
Malone had a double-double with 12 digs and was tied with Rachel Scott for the team lead with three blocks. Kara Erdmann led the Panthers with 25 digs, while Kati Goba picked up 11. Milica Tomic also had a double-double with 17 assists with 10 digs and added a pair of kills along with the team's lone ace.
 
Milwaukee fell behind early in the first set but were able to respond and tie the opening set at eight with five unanswered behind the service of Tomic. Alexis Lewis had two kills during the run while Malone and Scott each had a block.
 
The Panthers and Flames exchanged runs in the opening set with UIC knotting the score at 19 with a kill. Geurts and Scott connected on back-to-back kills to spark a 6-2 run for Milwaukee as the Panthers took the opener by four.   
 
In the second set, Milwaukee trailed 21-18 but were able to draw even at 21 on kills by Malone and Lewis, as well as an error by UIC. This time it was the Flames to finish off the set with four of the final five points, to win the set 25-22.
 
After hitting .183 over the first two sets, Milwaukee was not as successful in the latter two, hitting in the negative with just 19 kills against 21 errors. "We started off really strong, but it was hard to maintain as the match went on," Johnson added.
 
UIC took leads midway through sets three and four and put both periods out of reach with an 8-2 run to finish the third, and a 7-1 rally to cap off the match in the fourth.
 
Za'Niya Boyles had a team-best 10 kills for UIC, while Zahria Woodard had a nine-block performance for the Flames. Francesca Venturini had 20 assists and 10 digs, while Mihaela Harizanova added 17 assists and eight digs. Cleo Lorenzo had seven kills and 20 digs, tied with Tamara Kisic for the second-most kills for UIC.
 
Lewis had nine kills and a pair of blocks for the Panthers while Natalie Schmitz ended the afternoon with seven kills. Lakyn Graves had a pair of blocks, while Czhen Beneby made her season debut with a kill and a block. Josie Johnson had 18 assists.
 
Milwaukee will look to regroup as the team heads into Horizon League play. The Panthers will open the league slate with the first of two at Oakland on Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. (CT) at the Athletics Center O'Rena in suburban Detroit.