Panthers Lose First Home Game to Golden Grizzlies

MILWAUKEE – The UW-Milwaukee Panthers women’s volleyball walked away with their first home loss, falling 3-1 to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Nov. 8.

“It’s definitely frustrating but I have a lot of confidence in this team and I know we’ll bounce back,” team captain Kylie Wilks said.

Despite falling twice last week in back-to-back matches, Milwaukee still remains in the race for the Horizon League title. It boils down to the final two home matches of the season against Wright State (11-3) and Green Bay (11-3), which will impact conference tournament seeding.

The Panthers committed 11 errors during the first set, digging a 22-16 hole that they couldn’t climb out of.  Sophomore Jess Grabowski stepped up to serve and rattled off six straight points including three consecutive service aces to put the Panthers up 23-22. Oakland stopped the streak with a block and following that with a kill, winning the first set at 25-23.

In the second set, there was a little sense of frustration from Milwaukee. Senior Shari Volpis gave the Panthers some hope with kills in the middle of the set, but Oakland continued to attack for a 25-13 win and 2-0 lead.

The Panthers dusted off that frustration in the third set and took advantage of some Oakland miscues to get out front at 8-5. Volpis turned the game up and had Milwaukee up 14-7 with a total of 12 kills in this set. She recorded a career high of 18 kills in tonight’s game. Milwaukee kept the lead the entire set.

Freshman Ari Miller’s kill gave Milwaukee the third set, 25-20, and pull the match back to 2-1.

“I felt like it brought some confidence back and I felt like going forward our team is finally going back and getting the flow,” Miller said.

In the fourth set, Milwaukee controlled early but Oakland continued to execute and put the themselves on top 16-14. The Panthers responded to every Oakland point but couldn’t get the lead back. After another Volpis kill to tie the set at 22-22, an Oakland kill and a couple errors from Milwaukee gave Oakland the victory.

This game may have been the most challenging game of this conference season but it is the least of Milwaukee’s worries.

“I think honestly for us it’ll just be kind of wiping it out,” Wilks said. “When we lose or win it has a lot to do with us not a lot to do with the other team. We can play and execute and that’s usually when we win. No discredit to the other teams but this year our offense is just really strong and when that’s on we win and when we struggle, we struggle and grind through to push to win.”

The Panthers wrap up the regular season at home, where they are 10-1 this season. The 10 victories mark the ninth time Milwaukee has reached double-digit wins on its home court.

The Panthers take on UIC at 6 p.m. on Nov. 15 before battling Green Bay at 4 p.m. the following day.