Milwaukee Athletics

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Milwaukee volleyball clinched the Tommie Invitational Championship with a 3-1 win over host St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon, taking the match 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, and 25-22.
 
The Panthers went 3-0 on the weekend, also earning wins over UIC and Montana State to claim the tournament championship.
 
Milwaukee was led by Ella Parker, who recorded her first career double-double with 10 kills and 10 assists. Josie Noble and Ella Schuetz each had eight kills and eight digs apiece, while Annie Eschenbach had seven kills.
 
Milica Tomic had 20 assists to go along with six digs and three kills, while Emma Duffy secured 11 assists. Kati Goba led defensively with 16 digs, while Noble, Eschenbach and Bella Lipski each registered five blocks.
 
Following the match, Eschenbach was named the Tommie Invitational Most Valuable Player, while she, along with Goba and Parker were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
 
The Panthers put together an impressive showing in the opening set leading wire-to-wire while hitting a match-high .313 with 11 kills against just one error. In the second, Milwaukee had more errors than kills but bounced back in the final two sets, accumulating 22 kills against 11 errors, and finished the match hitting .149.
 
Milwaukee built leads in each of its three winning sets, beginning with multiple six-point leads in the first before holding off a late St. Thomas rally to win the set by three. The Panthers also held a five-point lead in the third and played in a back-and-forth fourth set before using a late 5-2 stretch to take control and close out the championship.
 
The Panthers had 60 digs collectively and held an advantage at the net, outblocking the Tommies, 10-8.
 
"We really pushed back when they pressed us and made it hard to earn our points," said head coach Susie Johnson. "There were a lot of moments where we had to fight for every point and stay composed when they were putting pressure on us. I thought we did a good job responding, competing together and finding ways to make plays when we needed to."
 
St. Thomas had three players reach double figures in kills, led by Anya Schmidt with 15. Ellie Gustafson added 13 and Audrey Kocon had 12, while Morgan Kealy dished out 42 assists and 12 digs. Taylor McNear added 14 digs for the Tommies.
 
Milwaukee improves to 3-3 on the season and will look ahead to a pair of matches next weekend at Indiana State. The Panthers and Sycamores will first play on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. (CT).