Milwaukee City Wire

The Milwaukee volleyball team began its Horizon League schedule with a straight-sets win over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Friday evening. The Panthers achieved a season-high .412 hitting percentage during the match.

Josie Noble and Ella Schuetz led Milwaukee's offense, each recording 10 kills. Bella Lipski added nine kills, while Natalie Schmitz contributed eight. Setter Milica Tomic provided 21 assists, and Josie Johnson had 19 assists. Tomic and Johnson also combined for four of Milwaukee’s seven service aces, with Kati Goba adding two more.

On defense, Milwaukee tallied four blocks, including two each from Emily Hansen, Lipski, and Noble. Kara Erdmann led the team in digs with 16.

"We played really well as a team today, and it was an awesome win," said head coach Susie Johnson after the match.

"We were executing in all facets of the game," Johnson continued. "Kara was doing a great job passing the ball, and Milica and Josie were strong in setting up our hitters. A lot of credit to our hitters as well, we were very balanced with our hitting distribution, and they found the vulnerable spots in Oakland's defense."

In the first set, Milwaukee made only one error while registering 17 kills. After leading 11-9 early on, they used a 10-2 run to take control before closing out the set at 25-14 on a kill by Hansen.

During the second set, Milwaukee held a 14-10 lead before Oakland responded with seven consecutive points to go ahead by two. The Panthers regained momentum to reach set point at 24-23 but needed several more rallies before winning the set 27-25 due to back-to-back attacking errors by Oakland.

Milwaukee maintained offensive strength in the third set with 14 kills against just two errors for a .500 hitting percentage. A five-point run extended their lead to 23-13 before finishing off Oakland at 25-15 following a block by Noble and Hansen.

The teams are scheduled to play again Saturday afternoon at Klotsche Center.