The Wright State volleyball team lost 3-2 in a hard fought battle at Milwaukee Sunday evening (14-25, 27-29, 25-21, 26-24, and 8-15).

First Set Highlights

Wright State and Milwaukee kept the score close throughout the beginning of the first set, tying the score twice at 1-1 and 2-2 before the Panthers went on a 3-0 run to take the lead at 5-2.  Wright State's senior outside hitter Katie Klusman was able to side out for the Raiders with a kill to make the score 5-3.  Both teams traded points back-and-forth pushing the score to 9-7 before the Panthers went on a 3-0 run to extend their lead to 12-7.  Wright State took their first timeout at 12-7 to slow down the Panthers, but coming out of the timeout a hitting error from the Raiders allowed Milwaukee to score again making the score 13-7.  Wright State continued to fight throughout the middle of the set in hopes of tying the game, but Milwaukee held their five point lead pushing the score to 19-14.  A service error from Wright State jump started a 6-0 run by the Panthers and Milwaukee won the first set 25-14.  Freshman outside hitter Abby Barcus led the Raiders with three kills in the first set.

Second Set Highlights

Milwaukee took the early lead at 3-1, but Wright State pushed back against the Panthers to take the lead at 4-3 by going on a 3-0 run.  Both teams kept the score close tying the score at 4-4, 5-5, and 6-6 before Wright State took the lead again by going on a 4-0 run pushing the score to 10-6.  The Panthers fought back to tie the score at 11-11 after a 5-1 run, but Wright State answered back immediately with back-to-back kills to retake the lead again at 13-11.  The Raiders and Panthers continued to battle back-and-forth throughout the middle of the set trading points and pushing the score to 19-19 before the Raiders took their first timeout with the game tied.  Coming out of the timeout the teams kept the score extremely close tying the game seven times pushing the score to 27-27.  Wright State held set point two separate times at 25-24 and 26-25, but the Panthers took a side out and ultimately won the set 29-27.  Klusman led the Raiders with six kills while Hopkins was close behind with four kills.

Third Set Highlights

Wright State took an early lead at 4-2 after a service ace from senior defensive specialist Rachel Kremer.  Milwaukee took their first timeout with Wright State in the lead at 7-4 after the Raiders went on a 2-0 run.  Coming out of the timeout the Raiders scored again off of a kill from freshman Teddie Sauer extending their lead to 8-4.  Wright State continued to extend their lead to 13-6 with a 4-0 run after a kill from Barcus and three consecutive service aces from sophomore defensive specialist, Hannah Colvin.  Both teams continued to trade points throughout the middle of the set, but Milwaukee was never able to tie the score.  The Panthers pulled within one point two separate times at 17-16 and 18-17, but Wright State's Teddie Sauer slammed down kills both times to keep a two point lead.  The teams battled and pushed the score to 23-21 before Wright State went on a 2-0 run ending the set at 25-21 after a block by Hopkins and senior setter Maddie Lohmeier, and a kill from Barcus.  Hopkins and Klusman led the Raiders posting four kills each.

Fourth Set Highlights

Milwaukee took an early lead at 6-1 before Wright State took a side out after an attack error by the Panthers.  The Raiders fought back after going on a few runs and quickly tied the game at 9-9 after an attack error by Milwaukee.  The teams battled back-and-forth keeping the score close throughout the middle of the set and tying the score five more times to push their score to 15-15.  Wright State took the lead at 19-15 after a 4-0 run before a service error ended their streak.  A couple of runs by the Panthers late in the set allowed them to close in on the Raiders at 22-21, but a kill by freshman Celia Powers put Wright State up by two points at 23-21.  The Panthers fought back tying the score two separate times at 23-23 and 24-24, but the Raiders were able to win the set 26-24 forcing a fifth set.  Klusman and Barcus led the Raiders with four kills each.

Fifth Set Highlights

Milwaukee took an early lead at 3-0 forcing Wright State to take a timeout early in the set.  Coming out of the timeout the Raiders went on a 2-0 run to pull within one point of the Panthers at 3-2.  The Panthers answered back immediately and quickly extended their lead to 9-2 after going on a 6-0 run before Hopkins was able to put down a kill and side out for the Raiders.  Wright State continued to fight and went on a 3-1 run pulling within five points of the Panthers before Milwaukee took their first timeout of the set.  Coming out of the timeout the Raiders continued their push scoring off of a block and a set error by the Panthers to make the score 10-7.  Both teams continued to battle trading points back-and-forth pushing the score to 11-8 with Milwaukee still in the lead.  An attack error by Wright State jump started a 4-0 run by Milwaukee, and the Panthers won the final set 15-8 to end the match.  Hopkins led the Raiders in the fifth set with two kills.

What Coach Clements is Saying

"We must do a better job of starting off the match playing clean volleyball.  We can't continually get ourselves down by two sets and fight back.  Our block was very solid tonight, but we needed more digging behind our block tonight to have come out with the win."

Next Up

Wright State continues conference play at home next weekend taking on Northern Kentucky on Friday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. and IUPUI on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m.