Volleyball Travels To Green Bay For Lone Weekend Match

Panthers look to get back on track against Phoenix

This week is a little different for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team with just one match on the schedule - a road contest against Green Bay. The Panthers will square off against their in-state rival Friday evening at 7 p.m. from the Kress Center.

Panther Points
• After a very challenging non-conference schedule, Milwaukee is right in the thick of things in Horizon League action. With three weeks of league play in the books, the Panthers are in a logjam of seven teams that are separated by just two games.

• Milwaukee has once again earned high praise from fellow league coaches in the preseason poll. The Panthers were picked to finish second in this year's preseason Horizon League poll, earning one first-place vote.

• Senior Kayla Price was named preseason All-Horizon League again this year. This marks the fourth-straight season Price has been honored in the preseason.

• UWM finished second in the Horizon League standings last year in both the regular season and in the league tournament. That marked the 16th time in the last 18 seasons Milwaukee finished in the top-two in the league standings.

• The Week Ahead
UWM will make the short trip north to take on in-state rival Green Bay Friday night at 7 p.m. from the Kress Center.

• Scouting Notebook
The Phoenix enter the weekend at 13-7 overall and 4-3 in Horizon-League play ... Friday is the start of a three-game home stand for the Phoenix and will serve as alumni day ... GB has won its last three, all three-set sweeps over Wright State, UIC and Valparaiso ... that marks just the second time in program history they have won three straight in three sets ... freshman Jessica Wolf was named the league's offensive player of the week last week after hitting .457 with 26 kills in two matches over the weekend ... the Phoenix have zero players averaging more than three kills per set but do have six averaging more than two ... senior Jillian Bauer leads the league and is one of the leaders in the nation with 5.31 digs per set ... sophomore Lydia DeWeese is leading the offense with a .382 hitting percentage.

• Catch All The Action
The majority of Milwaukee's league contests will be streamed live online through ESPN. All the remaining Panther home games will be streamed, while the majority of its league games will be available for fans on ESPN3.com - including Friday's match in Green Bay.

• Series History
The Panthers have historically done quite well against their in-state rival, going 52-13 all time against the Phoenix. Last year, Milwaukee started things off with a 3-1 win at the Kress Center before a 3-0 win at the Klotsche Center.

• She Can Dig It
Myanna Ruiz moved from outside to libero this season and has made a seamless transition. In fact, the junior's average of 5.13 digs per set would be a single-season school record - with Lauren Felsing's mark of 5.04 back in 2008 currently the top mark. Ruiz also is on pace to finish in top-10 in total digs for a season. With at least 10 matches left on the schedule, she currently has 369 digs on the season. Felsing is also the record-holder in that category with 645, also in 2008. Additionally, Ruiz just went over the century mark on digs for her career.

• Hitting The Century Mark
The Oct. 10th match at UIC was a historic one for junior Myanna Ruiz. With 21 digs against the Flames Ruiz went over 1,000 for her career, becoming just the 12th player in program history to do so, reaching that figure in just 78 matches played. Senior Kayla Price is also closing in on the century mark for digs in her career, entering the weekend 968.

• The Price Is Right
Kayla Price enters her senior season as one of the top setters in Milwaukee history. A starter from her first season on campus, the fifth-year senior has racked up a whopping 4,553 assists. That mark is good for third in program history. Katie Schneider holds the program record with 5,276 from 1996-99.

• Gimme Five
Milwaukee has played in some thrilling matches this season, including five that have gone the full five sets. The Panthers are 3-1 thus far this season when playing five, claiming wins over Furman, Oakland and Wright State.

• Making A Career Of It
The Panthers were statistically dominant in their five-set win at Oakland this season. In fact, four Panthers set career highs during the win. Kaisa Mattson had a career-high 21 kills, surpassing her old mark of 14. Myanna Ruiz (36), Maggie Dunbar (17) and Mykie Olsen (14) all tallied career bests in digs, while Kayla Price was just shy of PRs in both digs (18 - one away) and assists (58 - four away).

• Getting It Dun-Bar
Maggie Dunbar made quite the start to her senior season in the Black & Gold. The Bloomington, Ill. native came off the bench and notched a career-high 25 kills in the five-set win over Furman. Dunbar hit a whopping .465 to lead UWM to the comeback win. Just for perspective, that is only two kills shy of fourth place in program history for a five-set match.

• Tough Tests
As always, UWM will face plenty of tests during the 2015 season. The Panthers will face six NCAA Tournament squads from a year ago and teams from the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Big East. In all, Milwaukee will play 12 contests against teams that won 20 or more matches a year ago.

• On The Road Again
After opening the season with three-straight home matches as part of the Pepsi Panther Invitational, Milwaukee didn't play another home game the whole month of September. UWM faced 12-straight road matches, including playing away from home every weekend during the first month of school. Tournaments in North Dakota, Iowa and Illinois started the big road swing before a three-game road trip to Oakland, Youngstown State and Cleveland State to start conference play ended the month-long stretch.

• It's Good To Be Home
When it comes to home court advantage, Milwaukee has proven to make the Klotsche Center one of the toughest places to play. The Panthers posted a 9-3 mark a season ago to up their home record to 75-24 under head coach Susie Johnson, good for a winning percentage of .758. Here's Milwaukee's year-by-year home record under Johnson:

2014: 9-3
2013: 8-1
2012: 5-7
2011: 12-2
2010: 10-4
2009: 8-4
2008: 10-2
2007: 13-1

• Preseason Picks
Milwaukee has once again earned high praise from fellow league coaches in the preseason poll. The Panthers were picked to finish second in this year's preseason Horizon League poll, earning one first-place vote.

Individually, senior Kayla Price was named preseason All-Horizon League again this year. This marks the fourth-straight season Price has been honored in the preseason.

• All-Tourney Team
The Panthers played in four non-conference tournaments this year and boasted some great individual performances to start the season. Kayla Price and Myanna Ruiz were both named to the all-tournament team following the season-opening Pepsi Panther Invitational. Then, Price again was named all-tournament after the tournament in North Dakota. Maggie Dunbar was named to the all-tourney team in Iowa before freshman Maddie Williams got the nod after a strong showing at the Wildcat Invitational at Northwestern.

• Up Next
Next week is a busy one with four matches in a span of just over six days. Milwaukee starts things a three-game home stand by welcoming Oakland Tuesday evening before a weekend set against Youngstown State and Cleveland State and finally wrapping things up Monday at Marquette.

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Players Mentioned

#12 Maggie Dunbar: RS; 6' 2"; Senior

#13 Kaisa Mattson: MB; 6' 2"; Junior

#11 Mykie Olsen: DS; 5' 6"; Sophomore

#5 Kayla Price: S; 5' 9"; Senior

#2 Myanna Ruiz: L; 5' 8"; Junior

#15 Maddie Williams: MB; 5' 11"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#12 Maggie Dunbar
: 6' 2"; Senior
: RS

#13 Kaisa Mattson
: 6' 2"; Junior
: MB

#11 Mykie Olsen
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: DS

#5 Kayla Price
: 5' 9"; Senior
: S

#2 Myanna Ruiz
: 5' 8"; Junior
: L

#15 Maddie Williams
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: MB