The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team opens the second half of the Horizon League schedule with a road trip to play Valparaiso University Friday followed by UIC Saturday.

It's a quick turnaround away from home for the Panthers, playing at 7 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. the next afternoon.

Both matches will have live stats available on the Milwaukee website and will also be aired live on the Horizon League Network.

Scouting the Weekend
The Panthers are 18-16 all-time against Valparaiso, including an impressive 3-2 win earlier this season in the Klotsche Center that snapped the Crusaders 13-game win streak to open 2014. UWM is an impressive 37-13 all-time against UIC, also topping the Flames earlier this season with a 3-1 decision.

Valparaiso enters Friday with an 18-5 overall record, one of the best 23-game marks in program history. The Crusaders are just one game out of first place in the league standings at the halfway point at 4-3 and are led on the offensive side by Emily Campbell, who averages 4.12 kills per set. Kelsey Victor is hitting .302 and contributes 2.30 kills and over one block per set.

UIC is coming in with a 10-12 overall mark - 4-3 in league play - and returns home this weekend to start the second half of conference play. The Flames play host to Green Bay Friday and have won three consecutive Horizon League contests. They are led by back-to-back league player of the week Stephenee Yancy. She leads the Horizon League with a .358 attack percentage and 4.27 kills per set and is also tenth in the nation with 363 kills.

Last Week
The Panthers played three times, winning the first two before dropping the third. The first was against Western Michigan, with the 3-1 decision marking the first-ever victory over the Broncos in program history (0-6 previously). The team than took care of Wright State, 3-1, before getting knocked off by Oakland by the same score. The loss to Oakland was the first for UWM at home this season and snapped its home winning streak at 11 dating back to last season.

Standings Peak
A look at the Horizon League standings at the official midway point of the conference slate shows a tight race. UWM, Oakland and Youngstown State are all tied at 5-2, followed by Valparaiso and UIC at 4-3. With seven games left, there is plenty of action remaining as the regular-season title chase starts to come into focus.

Getting It Dun(bar)
Junior Maggie Dunbar set a career-high with 20 kills in the victory over Western Michigan Oct. 14. Dunbar, who equaled her career-high with 17 kills four days earlier at Youngstown State, ended the night with 20 and did it on an impressive .500 hitting percentage. That gave her double-figures in kills for the sixth game in a row and also marks the third time this season she hit .500 or better for a match.

Triple-Double Encore
Sophomore Myanna Ruiz became the ninth player in program history to record a triple-double Sept. 19, putting up an impressive line of 11 kills, 17 assists and 10 digs in the win over LIU Brooklyn. It marked the first Milwaukee triple-double since Kerri Schuh in 2010. She one-upped that performance just eight days later with a statline of 17 kills, 25 assists and 15 digs to become just the fourth player with multiple triple-doubles in a UWM career.

That Makes it a Grand
Senior Julie Kolinske became the 11th player to record over 1,000 kills in a career. She now sits at 1,037 and is currently averaging 3.82 per set. She will climb up the Top 10 the rest of the way, with a move into the top five (currently 1,213) in her sights.

More Grand Stats
Senior Taylor Golabowski was the next player to reach a milestone, as she picked up career dig No. 1,000 against Green Bay Oct. 3. She became the 11th player in program history to reach the mark and is on pace to finish in the all-time top five.

League Honors
Sophomore Myanna Ruiz and senior Taylor Golabowski were named the Horizon League Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week. Ruiz earned Offensive Player of the Week honors Oct. 1 after stepping up with Kayla Price out of the lineup. Ruiz opened the weekend with 15 kills on a .321 hitting percentage and 33 assists in UWM's 3-1 win over UIC. On Saturday, she recorded her second triple-double of the season with 17 kills, 25 assists and 15 digs as the Panthers ended Valparaiso's 13-match win streak with a 3-2 win. Ruiz entered the weekend with 39 assists in 13 matches this season, but had 58 in the two matches as she guided the Panther offense with the normal setter Price out of the lineup. Ruiz is the only player in the league to record a triple-double this season.

Golabowski led UWM's defensive charge on the weekend. She had 20 digs and four aces in UWM's 3-1 win over the Flames. She followed that up with a match-high 23 digs and seven assists in the win over the Crusaders as the Panthers held the league's top-hitting team to its third-lowest hitting percentage of the season.

Schedule With Some Muscle
The Panthers played a very demanding non-conference schedule in front of the start of league play in 2014. Minnesota was ranked #19 at the time, while Michigan State (No. 25) was also ranked. WKU and Iowa State were just outside of the Top 25 receiving votes when the two teams played.

Price one of a Unique Trio
Just a junior, Kayla Price moved into rare territory over the course of play at the Wynn Invitational when she climbed over the 3,000 career assists mark. That makes her just one of three UWM players all-time to reach that status. Lindsey Spoden (No. 2 at 5,233) and Katie Schroeder (No. 1 at 5,276) remain the only players above her on the career list.

Preseason Honors
Julie Kolinske was named the Horizon League's 2014 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while Kayla Price was also named to the preseason all-league team. The full preseason honors list was voted on by the league's coaches.

Kolinske was an All-League honoree last season after helping lead the Panthers to the Horizon League title. The outside hitter reached double-figures in kills 20 times, including a pair of 20-plus outings, while accumulating 343 kills on the season to lead the Horizon League. She had 31 kills in Milwaukee's two tournament wins as she was named to the All-Tournament team.

2013 Year in Review
The Panthers once again posted another successful season in 2013, bouncing back to claim both the Horizon League regular-season and tournament championships.

Back to the Big Dance
The Panthers took advantage of their homecourt and avenged their only regular-season league losses by beating Cleveland State and Valparaiso to claim the 2013 Horizon League Tournament title, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in school history.

About that Regular Season
The Panthers claimed their ninth Horizon League regular-season title in the last 11 years with another strong run through the regular season. It marked quite a turnaround from the previous season, when Milwaukee posted an uncharacteristic 4-10 mark and didn't even qualify for the league tournament. This year marks the fifth regular-season league title in seven seasons under Susie Johnson, who is now 96-25 against league competition as a head coach. In all, Milwaukee has now won 13 league regular-season crowns.

The Awards List
Five Panthers were honored by the Horizon League when the postseason awards were announced at the end of the regular season. Rachel Neuberger claimed league player of the year honors and was joined on the all-league team by Julie Kolinske and Kayla Price. Plus, Susie Johnson was named the league coach of the year and Myanna Ruiz captured a spot on the all-freshman team.

Nice Numbers
UWM was statistically dominant in its 14 league matches. Milwaukee led the league in hitting percentage, kills and assists while standing second in both digs and opponent hitting percentage. Plus, the Panthers finished third in blocks in league-only matches. The team tallied a stellar 15.1-11.8 advantage in kills per set and a .275-.167 edge in team hitting percentage. Individually, Julie Kolinske led the league in kills, with Rachel Neuberger right behind her. As a team, Milwaukee hit .300 or better seven times in 14 league matches.

Many People Involved
One of the great strengths of the 2013 Panthers was the depth and wide variety of players that stepped up. Eight different players recorded at least one double-figure kill outing last season and six players had a season total of at least 100 kills. Defensively, six different players had at least one double-figure dig outing and four players had at least 200 digs last season. Plus, on the blocks front, four players had at least 50 blocks. The Milwaukee rotation certainly developed and changed throughout the year. Nicole Latzig and Kaisa Mattson both spent time as the second middle alongside Rachel Neuberger while Maggie Dunbar, Hannah Blanchard, Myanna Ruiz and Sammi Herron all worked at either the outside or right side throughout the year alongside Julie Kolinske.

Summing Up the Non-League
Milwaukee knew it would be facing plenty of challenges during the non-league portion of its schedule. UWM wound up squaring off with five teams that were in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, including national seeds Florida, Kansas and Wisconsin. When the Panthers met the then-#4 Gators in September, they were the highest ranked opponent ever for UWM. In all, Milwaukee played three teams from the Big Ten, going to five sets with both Northwestern and Iowa, and played a pair of Big XII foes in Oklahoma and Kansas. In all, the Panthers played five teams in the top 25 of the RPI.

Back on the Top of the Hill
A year after climbing back to the top of the standings and returning to the NCAA Tournament, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team has once again been picked by league coaches to take first place in the upcoming Horizon League regular season. The Panthers tallied six first-place votes and 47 points in the coaches' poll to claim the top spot. Valparaiso (second place overall with 39 points) and Oakland (third, 37) each collected one of the remaining two first-place votes.

Up Next
Just one game on the slate for next week, as the Panthers will have nearly a week off to prepare for Green Bay on the road Friday.