Milwaukee City Wire

The Milwaukee Panthers women's volleyball team was defeated in straight sets by the No. 6-ranked Wisconsin Badgers on Tuesday night at UW Field House in Madison.

Wisconsin controlled the match with 11 blocks and 10 aces, ending with a total of 45 kills. Mimi Colyer led the Badgers' offense with 16 kills. Charlie Fuerbringer contributed a double-double, tallying 33 assists and 14 digs. Grace Egan served five aces, while Carter Booth anchored the defense with eight blocks.

On the Panthers' side, Natalie Schmitz registered four kills to lead her team, while Bella Lipski added three. Josie Johnson finished with seven assists and Milica Tomic had six. Josie Noble delivered Milwaukee's only ace of the match.

Defensively, Kara Erdmann led Milwaukee with 10 digs. Sam Vanda recorded seven digs and Tomic had five. Annie Eschenbach and Noble each recorded two blocks, while Lipski and Schmitz each added one block.

Wisconsin took control early by holding Milwaukee to just seven points in the first set, posting a .600 hitting percentage with 13 kills and one error.

"Wisconsin is a competitive top-10 team that made it really difficult for us to get any momentum going," said Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson. "After the first set, we improved as the match went on."

In the second set, Milwaukee briefly led at both 3-1 and later at 11-9 before Wisconsin responded with an 11-1 run to take command of the set. Ella Schuetz and Sam Vanda managed consecutive kills late in the period for Milwaukee, but Wisconsin secured a 25-15 win.

The third set saw another early lead for Milwaukee at 6-5 before Wisconsin surged ahead by taking 12 of the next 13 points to build a substantial margin. The Panthers narrowed the gap to 20-11 before Wisconsin closed out both the set and match.

Milwaukee's schedule continues this week as they return home for three matches at Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee. The Panthers face James Madison on September 12 at 4:30 p.m., followed by games against Ball State on Saturday and Marquette on Sunday, both scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start.