INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI volleyball lost a hard-fought battle with Milwaukee, dropping its match with the Panthers in four sets on Saturday (Nov. 2). The Jags took the first set off of Milwaukee but dropped the next three in the loss.

Freshman Allie Pogue led the way on offense for IUPUI with a career-high 14 kills. It was also the first time in her career that Pogue has had double-digit kills in back-to-back matches. Haley Hoffman and Kaitlyn Johnson each contributed 10 kills and McKayla Wright and Maddie Dean chipped in eight each. Rebecca Schlechte guided the offense with 46 assists, reaching 40+ assists for the second consecutive contest.

Despite the loss, IUPUI's defense held the Horizon League's best offense under its season average, holding the Panthers to a .223 hitting percentage.

"I am really proud of the way our ladies competed tonight," said head coach Lindsey Froehlich. "The defensive intensity was great from everyone and despite the loss I thought we played really well."

The Jags finished the game with 71 digs and 10 blocks as a team. Rhiannon Schuenemann led the team with 22 digs and Rachel Hickey finished the game in double-figures with 15. At the net, Dean, Hoffman and Wright all finished with four blocks.

IUPUI had its best hitting offense in its last four matches, finishing the match at .183, helped by a first set where the Jags finished with a .295 hitting clip on route to a 28-26 set win. The Jags used a 4-0 run early to take a 10-8 lead featuring an ace by Hickey and a solo block from Pogue. After a Milwaukee point, the Jags went on another run with kills by Pogue and Johnson, a block by Pogue and Hoffman and a kill by Hoffman. Another service ace by Hickey capped a 5-0 run to put IUPUI up 15-9.

Milwaukee battled back in to the set using a 5-1 run and eventually tying the set up at 21. The teams would trade the next nine points with Milwaukee fighting off two set points for IUPUI. Two-straight points for the Panthers gave Milwaukee a set point but IUPUI got a kill from Wright to tie the set at 26. A block by Wright and Dean gave IUPUI its third set point and a kill by Wright won the set for the Jags.

IUPUI fought off two set points for Milwaukee in the second set, pulling within one at 24-23 but could not get a third-straight point as the Panthers took set two 25-23 to even the match. IUPUI's offense went cold in the third set as the Jags hit .118 while the Panthers hit a match high .371 on route to a 25-17 set win.

In the final set, IUPUI had a 9-8 lead after a kill by Dean but Milwaukee scored five-straight to take the lead. IUPUI twice got within two but after the Jags pulled within three later in the match, another 4-0 run for the Panthers put the set out of reach for the Jags as Milwaukee took the match with a 25-19 set win.

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IUPUI will hit the road for its next match, traveling to Youngstown State on Wednesday (Nov. 6).