Women's Volleyball September 30, 2015

Volleyball Returns Home After Month-Long Road Swing

Panthers host Wright State, Northern Kentucky this weekend

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team finally returns to its home gym after a month-long road trip. UWM will host two league foes this weekend in Wright State and Northern Kentucky, starting Friday at 7 p.m. from the Klotsche Center.

Panther Points
• While the Panthers have hit a bit of a rough patch going up against some mighty tough opponents to start the season, Panther fans should not panic. The 2010 team started the season 3-7 before going 15-1 in league play and winning the league title. Just one year earlier, Milwaukee started 2-9 and was 5-14 before going on a tear, marching to a league tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth. UWM was also 2-9 to start the 2002 season before winning the league tournament title and heading to the NCAA Tournament.

• 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
The Panthers are finally back home after a month-long road trip. Milwaukee hosts Wright State Friday at 7 p.m. from the Klotsche Center before a Saturday contest against conference newcomer Northern Kentucky.

• Scouting Notebook
Wright State enters the weekend with an 11-6 record ... Raiders already more than doubled win total of five from last year ... WSU won both of preseason tournaments that they hosted ... sophomore Katie Klusman leads the league in kills/set at 4.54 ... Raiders rank second in conference in assists (12.90/set), blocks (2.05/set), opponent hitting percentage (.185) and kills (13.64/set) ... Northern Kentucky comes to Milwaukee for the first time in program history ... the Norse are new to the Horizon League, dropping their first two league matches last weekend ... NKU will play at Green Bay Friday before Saturday's match in Milwaukee ... the Norse finished 18-10 last season and were fourth in the Atlantic Sun Conference ... freshman Haley Libs leads the team in kills at just over 3.0/set.

• Catch All The Action
The majority of Milwaukee's league contests will be streamed live online through ESPN. Only one of the Panthers' home games will not be streamed this season (Oct. 3), while the majority of its league games will be available for fans on ESPN3.com - including Friday's match against Wright State.

• Series History
Milwaukee and Wright State have plenty of history over the years. The Panthers own a 34-13 edge all time against the Raiders, including a season sweep last year. Meanwhile, when NKU comes to the Klotsche Center Saturday it will mark the first time the two teams will square off.

• 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.

• Gimme Five
Milwaukee has played in some thrilling matches this season, including three that have gone the full five sets. The Panthers are 2-1 thus far this season when playing five with the lone loss coming in the tournament finale at North Dakota State, while claiming wins over Furman and Oakland.

• 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).

• New Faces
Five newcomers join the Black & Gold this season. Taylor Mansfield will start her junior season after transferring from Trinidad State Junior College in southern Colorado. Meanwhile, four freshmen will start their collegiate careers in Celine Jones (Burr Ridge, Ill.), Caitlin Schultz (Port Washington, Wis.), Teagan Taylor (Burlington, Wis.) and Maddie Williams (Normal, Ill.).

• All-Tourney Team
The Panthers played in four non-conference tournaments this year and boasted some great individual performances to start the season. First, 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. Two weeks ago, Maggie Dunbar was named to the all-tourney team in Iowa after three solid outings against Iowa, No. 25 Texas A&M and Iowa State. Finally, it was freshman Maddie Williams getting the nod after a strong showing at the Wildcat Invitational at Northwestern.

• 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 hasn'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.

• 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 4,406 assists. That mark is good for third in program history. Katie Schneider holds the program record with 5,276 from 1996-99.

In fact, Price's season average of 11.47 assists per set last year was not only a career high, it was also good for 15th in the entire nation.

• 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

• Up Next
After a two-game homestand, it's right back to the road for Milwaukee as they play two more league matches next weekend, starting Friday at Valparaiso.

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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

#6 Celine Jones: RS; 5' 10"; Freshman

#17 Caitlin Schultz: OH; 6' 4"; Freshman

#4 Teagan Taylor: DS; 5' 6"; Freshman

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

#1 Taylor Mansfield: OH; 5' 11"; Junior

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

#6 Celine Jones
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: RS

#17 Caitlin Schultz
: 6' 4"; Freshman
: OH

#4 Teagan Taylor
: 5' 6"; Freshman
: DS

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

#1 Taylor Mansfield
: 5' 11"; Junior
: OH