INDIANAPOLIS – A season-best 12-kill effort by Bella Lipski was not enough to help Milwaukee in a three-set Horizon League loss to host IU Indy on Saturday afternoon at The Jungle.
 
In addition to her dozen kills, Lipski also had a season best .647 hitting percentage on 17 attempts. Natalie Schmitz had eight kills, while Milwaukee got 16 assists from Josie Johnson and 13 from Milica Tomic.
 
Offensive productivity was a key factor in the match, as IU Indy recorded 52 kills to the Panthers' 34. The Jaguars also had a team attacking percentage of .318, compared to .216 by Milwaukee. IU Indy also held a steep advantage in aces (6-0), assists (52-31), and digs (46-30).
 
"IU Indy was really difficult to stop today," said head coach Susie Johnson. "We were competing through stretches of the match, but we needed to put together a complete effort from start to finish and were just not able to do that today."
 
Falling 25-19 in the opening set, Milwaukee performed well with a .345 hitting percentage, recording 12 kills against just two errors. However, IU Indy had 21 kills against three errors for an impressive .486 mark in the first set. Four players had at least three kills for the Jaguars, including five from Morgan Ostrowski, who ended the day with 10.
 
In a closer second set, IU Indy had just one more kill than Milwaukee (13-12) but took advantage of four service errors by the Panthers. The Jaguars had plenty of defensive responses against the MKE attack, tallying 15 digs to just eight by the Panthers. Ultimately, the home squad took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-20 second-set win.
 
IU Indy put together another strong offensive performance in the third, with 18 kills en route to a 25-21 set win. The Panthers did have four blocks, accounting for half of the Jaguars' attacking errors, but it was not enough as Milwaukee's offense was unable to convert. IU Indy had another 17 digs in the period.
 
Jillian Tippmann had a team-best 15 kills for IU Indy, while setter Grace Purichia contributed with a double-double, finishing the match with 53 assists and 14 digs.
 
Milwaukee will return home for its next two matches, as the Panthers will welcome the Northern Kentucky Norse to the Klotsche Center. Friday's match will begin at 6:00 p.m.