MILWAUKEE, Wis. –Northern Kentucky (5-6, 1-1 Horizon League) suffered a 3-1 setback to Milwaukee (9-6, 3-0 HL) on Thursday night, falling by set scores of 25-21, 19-25, 25-12, 25-17.

STATS LEADERS

• Reilly Briggs hit .417 en route to 17 kills to lead Northern Kentucky.
• Anna Brinkmann contributed 10 kills, nine digs and three aces, falling just short of a fourth-straight double-double.
• Miranda Wucherer also narrowly missed a double-double as well, contributing 24 assists and nine digs.
• Natalie Hardig had five blocks to pace the Norse at the net, while Anna Burke led the back line with 15 digs.

 
FIRST SET SUMMARY   

• With the score tied at five, Milwaukee rattled off five-straight points to kickstart a 10-2 run for the Panthers.
• Trailing 22-15, NKU fought back and used a pair of Burke service aces to cut the deficit to three, but UWM finished off the stanza 25-21.
• Abby Kanakry had four kills on six swings to pace the Norse offense, which terminated 11 total attacks.
• Milwaukee put away 14 kills.

 
SECOND SET SUMMARY   

• Leading 7-6, Briggs registered a kill and Brinkmann followed with back-to-back aces to extend the margin to four and force a Milwaukee timeout. Briggs came out of the break in action put another attack away.
• The Norse continued to push and pulled ahead 16-10, resulting in the Panthers taking their final timeout.
• With Northern Kentucky leading 21-14, Carmen Heilemann took over for Milwaukee, leading it on a 5-0 run with four kills before Joy Banks ended the spurt by solo blocking Heilemann.
• Banks and Kanakry stuffed her again on the next two plays and Yopko delivered a set-winning ace.
• Despite registering four fewer kills in the set, 14-10, NKU limited its hitting errors to three and forced UWM into 11 thanks to six total blocks. Three of those blocks came via Harding.
• Briggs finished with five terminations on 10 attacks.

 
THIRD SET SUMMARY 

• Milwaukee jumped up early with a 6-1 advantage and cruised to a 25-12 decision.
• Northern Kentucky struggled to get going offensively, registering 10 kills and seven errors, while also having difficulty slowing a Milwaukee side that terminated 15 balls without an error.
• Briggs added four more kills and Burke scooped seven digs.

 
FOURTH SET SUMMARY 

• A couple of small two-point runs followed by six-straight points allowed MKE to take control of the fourth, 14-6.
• NKU found a little rhythm and ran off a 4-1 spurt, but the Panthers closed out the frame, 25-17.
• Briggs continued to be solid with six kills on just eight attacks and Banks terminated all four of her attempts.

 
MATCH NOTES   

• Northern Kentucky attacked at a .129 clip in the match, while Milwaukee terminated at a .291 rate.
• The Norse out-blocked the Panthers, 9.0-6.0.
• Briggs' double-figure kill total is her fifth in the last six matches. She has 86 kills (3.58 kps) during that time and has hit .340.
• Brinkmann has now registered double-digit kills in 10-straight matches.

 
NEXT UP 
A trip further North in the Badger State is on tap for the Norse, as Northern Kentucky is scheduled to play Green Bay on Friday, Oct. 1, in a 7 p.m. (ET)/6 p.m. (CT) tilt.