DALLAS – The Milwaukee volleyball team won the opening set of Friday afternoon's matchup, but were unable to win another set as the Loyola Marymount Lions came away with a 3-1 victory at the DoubleTree Classic hosted by Southern Methodist.
 
After winning the opening set, 25-12, the Panthers and Lions were locked in a closely-contested second set with LMU coming out on top, 25-21. The Lions continued their winning ways with 25-15 and 25-19 wins to take the match in four.
 
"We had a solid game plan set and executed it well against Loyola Marymount," commented head coach Susie Johnson. "Give them credit as they needed to play better to beat us and did so as the match went on."
 
The Panthers had a strong outing from Alexis Lewis, who recorded a season-high 10 kills while adding seven blocks. Rachel Scott added five blocks of her own, while Madi Malone ended the match with a double-double as she recorded 10 kills and 10 digs.
 
Milwaukee and Loyola Marymount were even in the opening set through the first 18 points. The Panthers were sparked by a trio of kills by Malone to initiate a 16-3 run. Lakyn Graves, Bri Geurts, Natalie Schmitz and Lewis all had kills along the way.

A dominant stretch of defense also helped lead the Panthers to the successful stretch, including three consecutive blocks in three of the closing four points of the opening set as Milwaukee won 25-12.
 
The second was tight throughout in the race to 25, but it was Loyola Marymount to reach the plateau first and tied the match at one with a 25-21 set win.
 
"We competed throughout the whole match … our team has definitely shown growth in the non-conference schedule," Johnson added.
 
Both sides exchanged their share of runs in the third set as Milwaukee sliced the Lions' lead to one at 14-13 midway through. An eight-point outburst by LMU extended its third-set lead to 22-13 before capping the score at 25-15.
 
In the fourth, the Panthers trailed by as many as six but were able to claw their way back in and trim the deficit to 19-16, including three unanswered kills by Lewis, Schmitz, and Scott. A service error by Milwaukee short-circuited the run and started a stretch of four-straight by the Lions to open an eight-point lead before going on to win the set by a 25-19 margin.
 
Geurts finished the match with eight kills, while Schmitz had seven. Graves had three of the team's five service aces and added five kills on offense. Josie Johnson had 19 assists while Milica Tomic added 15. Kara Erdmann was tied with Malone for the team lead with 10 digs.
 
Paige Flickinger led the Lions with 17 kills and had a .406 hitting percentage, leading a Loyola Marymount offense that outhit the Panthers by a .264 to .179 margin. The Lions held a 54-44 advantage in kills, while they also outblocked the Panthers 12-9, and recording 51 digs to Milwaukee's 37.
 
Milwaukee will close out their trip to Texas on Saturday, when they play the Weber State Wildcats beginning at 11:00 a.m. at Moody Coliseum in Dallas.