Volleyball October 10, 2018

MKE Continues Homestand This Weekend

Panthers welcome Youngstown State, Oakland to Klotsche Center

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team continues its five-match homestand this weekend with a pair of matches inside the Klotsche Center, starting Friday. It all starts when Youngstown State comes to campus Friday for a 6 pm contest. Then, less than 24 hours later, the Panthers will play host to the Golden Grizzlies of Oakland in what has turned into a great series over the years. That match is set for 4 pm Saturday afternoon.

• Scouting Notebook
Under the direction of first-year head coach Aline Scott, Youngstown State comes into Friday's contest with a 7-12 overall record and 1-5 in conference play. The Penguins' first Horizon League win of the year came to the tune of a 3-1 victory over Wright State just two weeks ago. While there have been some growing pains for Scott in her first year, YSU does rank fourth in the conference in digs/set at 18.64, with that number increasing to 20.16 in league action. Outsides Aleah Hughes and Margaux Thompson lead the Penguins in both kills (209 & 185) and digs (277 & 267) thus far this season.

The Golden Grizzlies enter the weekend tied with Milwaukee in the league standings at 2-4 in conference play. While there is still plenty of time, that start is a bit of a surprise as OU was picked second in the Horizon League's preseason poll, including receiving three of the nine first-place votes. Oakland split its matches a week ago, winning 3-2 at home against Wright State before falling in a sweep at Green Bay on Friday. OU will take on UIC Friday before it comes to Milwaukee for Saturday's showdown.

• Series History
After dropping a 3-1 decision in last year's season finale at Youngstown State, the Panthers moved to 31-9 all-time against the Penguins. Meanwhile, a sweep of last year's season series leveled MKE and Oakland up at 6-6 heading into Saturday's contest.

• Finally Home
After spending a full month on the road during the non-conference schedule, Milwaukee has finally returned home for a five-match homestand. With the brief home stint Sept. 28 & 29, the Panthers will only have to hit the road once over a four-week span (last Wednesday's win at IUPUI). The Klotsche Center has historically been very friendly to the Panthers, tallying an impressive 228 wins on that court since 1990.

• Grabbing League Honors
Freshman Jess Grabowski was named the Horizon League's Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 17 after an awfully impressive showing at Bradley's home tournament. The first-year libero turned in her most complete weekend performance to date, averaging over seven digs per set in the three-match tournament, including racking up 28 in a three-setter against the host Braves.

• Youth Movement
Susie Johnson once again has quite a young squad to work with this season. Nine of Milwaukee's 17 players are either freshmen or sophomores. Combine that with the fact that three of the Panthers upperclassmen are new to the team this year and MKE will look quite a bit different at the start of 2018 than they did at the end of last season.

Not only does Milwaukee have a large number of young players on this year's roster, but they are seeing the majority of minutes so far. Five freshmen were in the starting lineup for the first serve of the season, something that has largely remained unchanged through the first 19 matches of the year.

• Kiekhofer Killin' It
Junior Louise Kiekhofer had an outstanding start to the Horizon League slate. In the conference opener, the outside hitter racked up 27 kills while hitting .479 - both career highs. In fact, her previous career high for kills was 14 - nearly doubling that total in the win over Wright State. The 27 kills are also the most in the Horizon League in a four-set match this season and rank 11th in the entire NCAA.

• I'll Take Milwaukee For 500
Milwaukee has a very rich volleyball history with 13 league titles and 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. Now in its 29th season at the Division I level, the Panthers are on the verge of notching win No. 500 in program history. MKE enters the week with 494 total wins.

• Catch All The Action
Milwaukee volleyball will once again be readily available for the viewing pleasure of MKE fans this season, with nine home games streamed live on ESPN+. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform.

ESPN+, which will host the Horizon League women's soccer, men's soccer and volleyball championships this fall, offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year) and cancel at any time. Launched in April of 2018, ESPN+ is an integrated part of a completely redesigned ESPN App.

• Up Next
Milwaukee continues its five-match homestand next weekend, welcoming Northern Kentucky to campus Friday at 6 pm before Wright State comes to the Klotsche Center for a Saturday matinee.

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Players Mentioned

#3 Louise Kiekhofer: OH; 5' 9"; Junior

#12 Jess Grabowski: DS; 5' 4"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#3 Louise Kiekhofer
: 5' 9"; Junior
: OH

#12 Jess Grabowski
: 5' 4"; Freshman
: DS

Players Mentioned

#3 Louise Kiekhofer

#12 Jess Grabowski

Players Mentioned

#3 Louise Kiekhofer

#12 Jess Grabowski