Milwaukee Athletics

ROCHESTER, Mich. – Milwaukee volleyball bounced back to salvage a weekend split against Oakland, picking up a four-set victory on Saturday afternoon. Milwaukee won the opening two sets, 25-22, 25-23, before Oakland won the third, 25-21. The Panthers then finished off the win with a 25-19 victory in the fourth.
 
The Panthers hit .304 on the afternoon, finishing the match with 65 kills. Ella Parker had a team-high 14 kills, followed by Bella Lipski with 13, Kami Stover with 12, Ella Schuetz with 10, Josie Noble with nine and Annie Eschenbach with seven in a balanced offensive effort.
 
Emma Duffy recorded a season-best 27 assists in the winning effort, while Milica Tomic added 23 assists. Both setters had seven digs, while Schuetz recorded a double-double with 10 digs. Kati Goba led all players with 26 digs for Milwaukee. Noble had three of Milwaukee's four service aces.
 
Defensively, Milwaukee also established its presence at the net, finishing the match with 10 blocks. Noble and Lipski led the Panthers with five each, while Eschenbach had a hand in four blocks.
 
"Today was a much different story in terms of our ability to execute on both sides of the ball," said head coach Susie Johnson. "We were much more consistent offensively and did a better job defensively of putting ourselves in position to make plays. To out-dig a team like Oakland is a tremendous accomplishment and speaks to the effort and commitment our players showed throughout the match. I was also very impressed with our ability to nearly double our kill total in less than 24 hours. That kind of improvement speaks to our ability to adjust, respond to challenges and carry those changes onto the court. It was a great overall response from our group."
 
Playing from ahead, Milwaukee established leads in both the first and second sets. The Panthers were able to close out the first without much trouble but faced a late push from Oakland in the second. Milwaukee responded with a 3-1 run to lose out the set, capped by a block for the 25-23 victory.
 
Oakland strung together multiple late runs in the third set to cut the Milwaukee lead in half at 2-1, sending the match to a fourth set.
 
The Panthers answered back with a 7-2 run to open the fourth and later led 14-8. The Golden Grizzlies pulled within one at 17-16, but Milwaukee responded with an 8-3 run to finish off the match, capped by consecutive kills from Eschenbach and Lipski.
 
Milwaukee returns home for the final time this season on Friday and Saturday, welcoming first-place Wright State to town. Friday's match is scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. start, followed by a 12:00 p.m. start on Saturday. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.