CLEVELAND – The Milwaukee Panthers continued to play their best stretch of volleyball of the season, earning their sixth-straight win in a three-set sweep over the Cleveland State Vikings on Friday evening.
 
The Panthers had all facets of their game working well hitting .298 as a team on offense. Sam Vanda led the way at .583, followed by Bella Lipski at .462 and Natalie Schmitz at .346. Vanda and Lipski each tallied eight kills while Schmitz spearheaded the attack with 11.
 
Milwaukee's 46 combined kills came off 41 assists, including 16 each from Josie Johnson and Milica Tomic. The offense also registered three service aces, one each from Josie Noble, Ella Schuetz, and Tomic.
 
"What a great team effort tonight," commented head coach Susie Johnson. Our offense did a really nice job, led by our setters."
 
Defensively, the Panthers put together a solid effort in the passing game with 50 digs as a unit, led by Kara Erdmann with 21. Schuetz and Kati Goba each added six digs.
 
"Fifty digs in three sets is really impressive, led by 21 from Kara," Johnson added on the defensive effort.
 
Milwaukee also had seven blocks in its dominant showing, holding the Vikings to a meager .043 hitting percentage. Noble led the way with four blocks, Lipski and Vanda added three each, and Annie Eschenbach chipped in with two.
 
What initially looked like a runaway began with Milwaukee leading 15-6 through the first 21 points of the match. Cleveland State responded with eight of the next nine to cut the deficit to 16-14. After the Vikings pulled within one, Schmitz delivered three straight kills as the Panthers rebuilt their lead and closed out the opener, 25-19.
 
Milwaukee trailed 17-15 in the second set before putting together one of its best stretches of the season, scoring the final 10 points behind the strong service game of Tomic. Schmitz had three kills and Vanda had one during the run, along with an ace by Tomic.
 
Cleveland State again opened strong in the third, taking an 11-7 lead before Milwaukee responded with five unanswered points. The Vikings refused to let the Panthers pull away easily, tying the set four times, but Milwaukee ended the match with another powerful 9-2 stretch. During the final push, the Panthers got kills from Vanda, Schuetz, Noble, and the match-clincher by Lipski.
 
"Cleveland State pushed us, but we were able to respond," Johnson concluded. "It's important for us to answer like this at this point in the season."
 
Bryn VanVleet led CSU with nine kills, while Allison Salazar had 28 assists on the team's 29 kills. The Vikings finished with seven service aces, including three each from Salazar and Vayda Delventhal. Delventhal also led the team with 12 digs.
 
Milwaukee and Cleveland State will wrap up the regular season slate on Saturday afternoon, with first serve set for 1:00 p.m. (CT).