Women's Volleyball November 09, 2017

Volleyball Looks For Big Showing In Final Regular Season Roadtrip

Team chasing down final spot in postseason tournament

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team will finish its regular season schedule this weekend with hopes of a postseason berth at stake. UWM will head to Wright State and Youngstown State to finish out the regular season. A pair of wins and some help from around the league would five the Panthers yet another berth to the Horizon League Tournament.

• Scouting Notebook
Wright State heads into the weekend with a 4-11 conference record and a 10-18 mark overall ... Friday will be the Raiders' final match of the season, celebrating their five seniors for their final home contest ... WSU beat Youngstown State, 3-0, Wednesday evening in both teams' penultimate match ... that ended a seven-game skid for the Raiders ... senior libero Jessie Thornton is the clear leader in the conference in digs this season as the only player in the league averaging over five digs/set ... as a team, WSU ranks in the top half of the conference in digs (third), aces (third) and blocks (fourth) ... Milwaukee won the first contest against Wright State earlier this year, 3-2, at home and now holds a 41-16 lead in the all-time series.

The Penguins have hit a rough patch since the start of conference play and haven't been able to dig themselves out ... YSU now sits at 7-22 on the season overall and 0-15 in league play ... senior libero Lauren Blanco tallied her 1,000th career dig in the loss at Wright State on Wednesday ... Blanco ranks third in the conference in digs/set at 4.62 ... the Penguins lead the league in service aces this season, with senior outside Sam Brown the individual leader with nearly one ace every other set ... UWM swept YSU earlier this year at home to increase their series lead to 31-8.

• Tops In The League
Milwaukee has put together quite a number of impressive individual performances this season, with quite a few of those getting noticed by the league office. Just this past week, Bridget Wallenberger and Mykie Olsen swept the Horizon League Player of the Week honors. Wallenberger turned in 23 kills in the three-set win over NKU Friday before another 21 kills one day later. Meanwhile, Olsen turned in a career-high 25 digs Friday and another 22 Saturday, surpassing 1,000 for her career over the weekend. That all comes one week after Jenn Dore was named offensive player of the week Oct. 23.

• Checking The Standings
Milwaukee sits in seventh place in the league standings heading into the final weekend. The Panthers will have some work to, but still can claim the sixth spot in this year's league tournament. Milwaukee needs to win both its matches this weekend, coupled with a loss by Northern Kentucky at home against Green Bay.

• She Can Dig it
Senior Mykie Olsen has made a smooth switch over to libero this season after her first three years as a defensive specialist. The East Troy native has a team-high 429 digs on the season and is fifth in the league in digs/set at 4.53 since conference play started. The senior has been especially hot of late, with double-digit digs in each of the last 14 matches, headlined by a new career-high 25 digs in a win over NKU last weekend on senior day.

• Hitting The Century Mark
Mykie Olsen had one of the more memorable senior days in recent memory. The libero tallied a new career high in digs with 25 in the win over NKU. With that effort, Olsen became just the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 digs for her career.

• Opening The Dore
After an impressive freshman campaign at the setter position, Jenn Dore is at it again this year. The sophomore already has 1,219 assists through the first 27 matches this year - tops in the conference thus far and fourth overall in the entire NCAA. The sophomore has really been hot lately and earned Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week honors three weeks ago after tying her career high of 63 assists in a win at Oakland before a double-double of 54 assists and 11 digs at Cleveland State. While Milwaukee has played deeper into matches than some, Dore has also proven to be awfully efficient at 11.72 assists/set - ninth best in the country.

• Doubling Down
Sophomore Kylie Wilks has been on fire of late for Milwaukee. Despite being undersized, the Union Grove native was a huge reason for Milwaukee's recent late season push. Wilks had 11 kills and a career-high 19 digs Oct. 14 against Youngstown State before a match-high 21 kills and 17 digs one day later in a win over Wright State. She followed that up with another 18 kills and 19 digs in a win at league-leading Oakland. That marked her sixth-straight double-double and she now has nine total on the season with at least four matches left on the schedule. That comes one year after tallying eight double-doubles as a true freshman last season.

• What-A-Wallenberger
Bridget Wallenberger had quite the day against UIC Oct. 1. The reigning Horizon League Freshman of the Year tied her career-high with 24 kills while hitting an impressive .420. In fact, through four league matches, Wallenberger leads the league in hitting at a .390 clip, ranks third in kills at 4.00/set, is sixth in blocks (1.13/set) and 10th in service aces at roughly one per match.

• The Big 2-0-0
Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson reached the 200-win milestone in just the first week of the 2017 season with her team's 3-0 sweep of Northern Illinois. Now in her 11th year as head coach of the Black and Gold and 13th season serving as head coach in her career, Johnson isn't far from the 200-win plateau with the Panthers, with already 189 victories coming while on the bench with UWM.

• Tops In The Nation
Milwaukee had a mighty impressive showing on the defensive side of things against NC State Sept. 16. As a team, UWM racked up 17 total blocks - the most in a match for Milwaukee since 2012.

A big part of that was the monstrous performance from sophomore Bridget Wallenberger. The middle tallied a career-best 10 blocks herself, with five of those of the solo variety. In fact, she was the only player in Division I to register five solo blocks in a match this season until last weekend when Meredith Stutz of Miami (Ohio) matched that feat in a five-set win over Kent State.

• The Wright Side Of Things
Milwaukee put together an awfully impressive showing Oct. 15 in its win over Wright State. Not only did the Panthers claim an important win in conference play, but they also set a number of season highs in kills (74), assists (67) and digs (80).

• Young Panthers
Milwaukee once again has a young squad, with nine of this year's 14-player roster made up of underclassmen. That comes one year after UWM sported the youngest team in the Horizon League with seven true freshmen, with three of those seven starting nearly every match last year.

• Well That Was Fast
Jess Kalous wasted little time in etching her name in the Panther record book this season. The senior middle had an outstanding showing against Idaho State Aug. 25, headlined by her .652 (16-23) hitting percentage. That marked a program record for a five-set match, besting Natalie Schmitting's previous record of .600 (13-20) set back on Nov. 15, 2008 - a 3-2 win over Loyola in the regular-season finale.

• Catch All The Action
Milwaukee volleyball will once again be readily available for the viewing pleasure of UWM fans this season, with 10 home games streamed live on ESPN3. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN3 platform. ESPN3 is available to nearly 116.3 million homes.

• Up Next
The Horizon League Tournament starts Friday, Nov. 17 at the top seed. Cleveland State sits in the top spot with one game left on their schedule, though Oakland could still claim the No. 1 seed based on various scenarios.

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Players Mentioned

#8 Jenn Dore: S; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#9 Jess Kalous: MB; 6' 2"; Senior

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

#12 Bridget Wallenberger: MB; 6' 2"; Sophomore

#14 Kylie Wilks: OH; 5' 8"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#8 Jenn Dore
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: S

#9 Jess Kalous
: 6' 2"; Senior
: MB

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

#12 Bridget Wallenberger
: 6' 2"; Sophomore
: MB

#14 Kylie Wilks
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: OH