Milwaukee Athletics

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team won its first two sets, 25-17 and 25-23, however, Western Michigan answered back by winning the next three to spoil the Panthers' home opener Saturday afternoon.
 
The Panthers started the match with 30 kills against eight errors over the first two sets but were unable to maintain their momentum. Milwaukee had just 27 kills against 16 errors over the final three sets, falling to the Broncos, 25-13, 25-19, 15-10.
 
Meanwhile, Western Michigan hit .031 in the opening set but recovered and hit better than .300 over the remainder of the match, holding the advantage in kills, 59-57, assists, 58-53, and aces, 13-5. Annalise Patchett had a match-high 18 kills for the Broncos, while Leah Richmond finished with 48 assists.
 
The Panthers were led by Annie Eschenbach with 14 kills and Ella Parker with 12. Parker led Milwaukee with 14 digs for her second double-double of the year. Ella Schuetz also had 14 digs and finished one kill shy of a double-double. Milica Tomic had a team-high 25 assists.
 
"Give credit to Western Michigan, they came out and didn't stop competing and continued to put pressure on us throughout the match," commented head coach Susie Johnson. "It was a tough match for us, and there are things we need to learn from and continue to get better at. We need to take what we learned from this one, make the adjustments and respond tomorrow against Marquette."
 
Emma Duffy added two aces and 18 assists for the Panthers, while Milwaukee got eight kills from Josie Noble and Bella Lipski.
 
Milwaukee and Western Michigan each had 10 blocks, with Julia Kellner and Noble leading the Panthers with six apiece. Lipski added four blocks.
 
The Panthers head back on the road Sunday for a matchup at Marquette at 2:00 p.m. from the Al McGuire Center. The match will be available on ESPN+.