Milwaukee City Wire

The Milwaukee Panthers women's volleyball team lost in straight sets to the Ball State Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center.

Josie Noble led the Panthers with nine kills and contributed to both of the team's blocks. Natalie Schmitz added eight kills. Kara Erdmann recorded 10 digs, while Milica Tomic had 12 assists and Josie Johnson provided 11 assists.

Milwaukee finished with 29 kills on 26 assists and managed only 35 digs in the match. Ball State, meanwhile, posted a .421 hitting percentage with 46 kills on 95 attempts and just six errors. The Cardinals also collected 43 digs on Milwaukee's 93 offensive attempts.

"Give credit to Ball State, they performed really well coming off of an emotional five-set win over Marquette last night," said Susie Johnson after the match. "They made it really difficult for us to get in any rhythm by pressuring us a lot and digging out a lot of our attacks."

Noelle VanOort led Ball State with a match-high 14 kills, followed by Carson Tyler with twelve. Lindsey Green had 23 assists and shared two aces with VanOort as part of four total team aces for Ball State.

On defense, Tyler led the Cardinals with sixteen digs. Gwen Crull recorded four blocks while Green added three more.

"We're gaining experience with each contest and need to push back when we get pushed," Johnson added. "We have a tough match tomorrow against Marquette, so we'll need to be ready for another opponent that will challenge us."

Ball State secured a close first set victory at 25-17 after pulling away late. The Cardinals then won the second set 25-11 and completed the sweep by taking the third set 25-15.

Milwaukee is scheduled to play host Marquette next as part of day three of the Marquette Tournament, with first serve at 3:00 p.m. at the Al McGuire Center.