Women's Volleyball October 29, 2015

Volleyball Hits The Road For Final Time During Regular Season

Panthers to play Norse, Raiders starting Friday

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team hits the road for the final time this regular season for a pair of important league matches this Friday and Saturday. The Panthers make their first-ever trip to Highland Heights, Ky. to take on conference newcomer Northern Kentucky Friday before a Saturday contest at Wright State.

Panther Points
• Despite having a bit of an up-and-down season thus far, the Panthers are still right in the thick of things are far as the Horizon League standings go. The top-six make the league tournament each year. Milwaukee enters the weekend sitting seventh overall, but can still dramatically change their league standing with five matches left - all against conference opponents.

• The Panthers played a season-high four matches in seven days last week, going 1-3. The Panthers claimed a hard-fought win over Youngstown State and pushed league-leading Cleveland State to the brink, coming up just short in five.

• Kayla Price has been working on a pair of milestones all season. The fifth-year senior just notched her 1,000th dig of her Panther career Friday against Youngstown State. Also, with 121 career matches played, Price is just three away from tying and four from breaking the most matches played by a Panther.

• The Week Ahead
The Panthers will make their first-ever trip to Northern Kentucky to start this weekend's road trip. Milwaukee will take on the conference-newcomer Norse Friday evening before a Saturday afternoon match against Wright State in Dayton.

• Scouting Notebook
NKU enters the weekend at 6-5 in league play and 11-12 overall ... since UWM's 3-0 sweep of the Norse in Milwaukee in the first week of October, Northern Kentucky has gone 5-2 against the league and enters the weekend with a three-game winning streak ... Haley Libs (3.31) and Keely Creamer (2.93) lead NKU in kills per set ... Wright State is 1-10 in league play entering the weekend and 12-14 overall ... the Raiders will square off against Green Bay before Saturday's match against the Panthers ... WSU has dropped six straight, last winning Oct. 6 against NKU ... Milwaukee won this season's early meeting, 3-2 at the Klotsche Center ... Katie Klusman leads the Raiders with just over four kills per set ... Maddie Lohmeier averages over 11 assists per set and Jessie Thornton leads the way defensively with 4.77 digs per set.

• Series History
Milwaukee holds the lone win in first-ever match against Northern Kentucky, played earlier this season on Oct. 3. Meanwhile, the Panthers' win against WSU earlier this year gave them a 38-15 lead in the all time series.

• 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 4.92 digs per set would be just shy of a single-season school record - with Lauren Felsing's mark of 5.04 back in 2008 currently the top mark. Additionally, her digs-per-set average also ranks 30th in the nation.

Ruiz also is on pace to finish in top-10 in total digs for a season. With at least five matches left on the schedule, she currently has 448 digs on the season. Felsing is also the record-holder in that category with 645, also in 2008.

• Hitting The Century Mark
A pair of Panthers have reached milestone marks in their collegiate careers this season as both senior Kayla Price and junior Myanna Ruiz reached 1,000 digs for their Milwaukee careers. Ruiz was first to crack the list, accomplishing the feat Oct. 10th at UIC. Then, Price reached the century mark Oct. 23 in a home match against Youngstown State. The two become the 12th and 13th players in program history to achieve the remarkable accomplishment.

• 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 4,745 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 seven that have gone the full five sets. The Panthers are 4-3 thus far this season when playing five, claiming wins over Furman, Oakland, Wright State and Youngstown State.

• Making A Career Of It
With five matches left in the regular season, fifth-year senior Kayla Price is on pace to break the all time matches played record in Milwaukee history. Price enters the weekend with 121 matches under her belt, just three behind Julie Schloemer's record of 124 set from 1992-95.

• Flying High
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 has put together quite a few memorable performances this season. The senior started the year coming off the bench to notch a then-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. Then, Dunbar upped her career-high to 28 against Cleveland State Oct. 24. That total equals the most in the Horizon League this season.

• 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

• 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 was at it again 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
It's back to the road for the final time during the regular season next week. UWM will make its first ever trip to Highland Heights, Ky. Friday, taking on the Norse before a Saturday contest at Wright State on Halloween.

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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