DALLAS – The Southern Methodist Mustangs defeated the Milwaukee Panthers in three sets on Thursday evening in the opening game of the DoubleTree Classic at Moody Coliseum.
 
SMU won the sets by the scores of 25-12, 25-20, and 25-12 as the Mustangs hit .515 on the match with 43 kills on 66 attempts.
 
Milwaukee's offense struggled to get going, hitting just .147 on the match. The Panthers were led by Alexis Lewis and Madi Malone with six kills apiece, while Bri Geurts added five and had a team-leading .455 hitting percentage.
 
SMU used extended rallies throughout the match including a 7-0 run midway through the first and a 6-1 run to cap off the opening period, 25-12.
 
The Panthers had an early lead in the second set, but the Mustangs used a 6-2 run to take the lead and pulled ahead 21-13. Milwaukee rallied for six unanswered points including a pair of aces from Lakyn Graves and a kill by Geurts. SMU scored on four of the final five rallies to take the second set, 25-20.
 
It was more sustained offense for the Mustangs in the third, with SMU recording another 25-12 set victory to sweep the match.
 
Milwaukee had 10 assists from Josie Johnson while Graves had both of Milwaukee's aces. Kara Erdmann had seven digs. Lewis, Geurts, Graves, and Natalie Schmitz combined for Milwaukee's two blocks.
 
Southern Methodist was led by Naya Shime with 13 kills and a .611 hitting percentage, while Nnedi Okammor hit .714 [5-0-7] and Natalie Foster hit .800 [4-0-5]. Calia Cullen had 32 assists, while Foster led the Mustangs with four aces. Defensively Foster also led with four blocks, while Cullen had a match-high eight digs.
 
Milwaukee resumes play at the DoubleTree Classic on Friday afternoon against Loyola Marymount beginning at 3 p.m. Live stats of the match will be available at MKEPanthers.com.