MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Kennedy Louisell and
Ana Toumazatos picked up 17 kills apiece to lead James Madison volleyball to a 23-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-15 win over Milwaukee on Friday evening inside Al McGuire Arena. Â
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JMU (3-4) finished with a season-high .338 hitting percentage while holding Milwaukee (0-7) to .193. Toumazatos' 17 kills are a career-high, as the freshman hit .438 with just three errors on 32 swings. Louisell notched a double-double with 17 kills and 12 digs and has tallied at least 15 kills in all seven matches this season.
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Junior
Anna Wilson added a career-high nine kills on 16 swings and zero errors, hitting a career-best .562.
Grace Wenrich led the Dukes with 27 assists, while fellow setter
Rebecca Watkins notched 24.
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Defensively,
Julia McNeley paced JMU with 17 digs as the senior earned the start at libero. Wilson led the Dukes in blocks, as the junior recorded four.
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Josie Noble led Milwaukee with 12 kills, while Natalie Schmitz was the only other Panther to reach double-digit kills, finishing with 10. Bella Lipski totaled six blocks to lead UWM.
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How It Happened
First Set: Milwaukee 25-23
- Down 7-5, JMU rattled off five straight to take a 10-7 lead and force a Milwaukee timeout.
- The Panthers battled back and tied the score at 16-16 and eventually took a 19-16 lead on a kill from Milica Tomic and a pair of JMU errors.
- The Dukes fell behind 22-18 before cutting the deficit to one (22-21) on a Milwaukee attacking error. However, JMU could not get any closer as the Panthers took the first set on a Dukes' error.
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Second Set: James Madison 25-22
- An ace from Anna Wilson gave the Dukes a 7-4 lead and made Milwaukee burn a timeout.
- Louisell recorded her ninth kill of the match to give JMU a 19-17 lead, which prompted a Panthers timeout.
- Milwaukee cut the JMU lead to one on multiple occasions. After the Panthers capitalized on an error for the Dukes to make it 23-22, kills from Toumazatos and Watkins put away UWM and evened the match at 1-1.
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Third Set: James Madison 25-14
- A block from Wilson and Melisa Ilter gave the Dukes a quick 10-5 lead in the third.
- The JMU advantage swelled to seven (19-12) on a kill from Louisell.
- The Dukes ended the set on a 6-0 run to take the third in dominating fashion. JMU hit .286 in the set and held Milwaukee to .000.
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Fourth Set: James Madison 25-15
- JMU jumped on Milwaukee in the fourth, going ahead 10-5 on a kill from Toumazatos.
- After a timeout from the Panthers with the score 14-9, the Dukes took control of the set, scoring on six of seven rallies to go ahead 20-10.
- JMU cruised from there, as Addie Norman registered her seventh kill of the night to give the Dukes the win.
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Match Notes
- Louisell's double-double was her fourth in a JMU uniform. She has recorded at least 15 kills in all seven matches and now has a total of 139 (5.14 per set).
- Wilson's nine kills are a career high dating back to her time at High Point and South Carolina. Her .562 hitting percentage is also a career high.
- Toumazatos has recorded at least 10 kills in four of her last five matches and is second on JMU in kills (74) through seven matches.
- JMU improved to 1-0 in its first meeting with Milwaukee.
- The Dukes' .338 hitting percentage is a season high. JMU also recorded just 14 attacking errors, also a season low.
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Up Next
James Madison will take on Marquette on Saturday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT). The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
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