Women's Volleyball October 30, 2018

Panthers Host IUPUI Friday For Senior Day

Team heads to Cleveland State Sunday

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team returns home for its final time in the 2018 season Friday to start a two-match weekend in league play. The Panthers play host to IUPUI Friday at 6pm from the Klotsche Center in their final home match of 2018. The team will recognize its two-player senior class of Shanon Volpis and Sara Kartalovic before Friday's action. The team will then head to Cleveland State for a Sunday matinee from Woodling Gymnasium.

• Scouting Notebook
The Jaguars have hit a rough patch in their second season in the Horizon League, standing at 2-10 in conference play heading into their mid-week match at Cleveland State. IUPUI does rank as one of the best in the conference in digs, with both Rhiannon Schuenemann and Rachel Hickey both averaging nearly four digs/set.

Sunday's match will mark senior day for Cleveland State, with Rachael Dohar and Rachel Stover playing their last regular season home matches. The Vikings jumped back into a tie for first place in the conference standings after a 2-0 showing last weekend.

• Series History
With its win earlier this year, the Panthers improved to 4-2 all-time against IUPUI. Meanwhile, MKE still holds a 43-18 edge in the series with Cleveland State.

• A Crisp Hundred
In its win over Northern Kentucky on Oct. 19, Milwaukee reached an impressive defensive milestone by racking up 100 digs to help spur the big win. That is significant as it marked the first time in over six years (a four-set win over Wright State on Oct. 12, 2012) MKE has reached triple digits in digs - the only other time the team has cracked 100 since 2010.

• An Impressive Turn
Despite a rough start to the season, this Milwaukee squad never gave up - something that has shown, especially over the last few weeks. The Panthers have won six of their last eight to improve their record to 8-17 overall but much more importantly 7-5 in the Horizon League. That is significant as that vaults MKE into a tie for fourth place going into this weekend, with only the top six teams qualifying for the conference tournament.

• She Can Dig It
Freshman Jess Grabowski is on an impressive start to her collegiate career. With at least four matches still to go, the Greendale native has already racked up an impressive 458 digs - already second-most for a freshman in MKE history. Her 4.87 digs/set would also be a program freshman record and currently ranks her fifth in the entire Horizon League this season. For her efforts, she was named the conference's defensive player of the week on Sept. 17 after averaging an eye-popping 7.1 digs/set in a weekend tournament at Bradley.

• Climbing The Charts
This year's Panther squad has a number of individuals that are well on their way to etching their names in the Panther record books. Jenn Dore's 2,946 assists already rank her fourth in program history. Kylie Wilks is on pace to become just the fifth player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs and kills, entering the weekend with 882 digs (ranking 18th) and 754 kills (ranking 16th).

Meanwhile, a number of newcomers have had impressive opening collegiate campaigns for MKE this season. Rylie Vaughn's 494 assists stand eighth on the freshman record board. Jess Grabowksi's 458 digs already stand second for a Panther freshman, while her 4.87 digs/set would be a newcomer record. Both Vaughn and Grabowski also have a chance to reach the top-10 in service aces, with 23 standing as the current 10th-best in the books.

• 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 has quite a different look 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. Five freshmen were in the starting lineup for the first serve of the season, something that has largely remained unchanged.

• 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 499 total wins.

• Upperclassman Leadership
Milwaukee had a pair of upperclassmen step up big in the fifth set in their win over Oakland Oct. 13. Junior Kylie Wilks had six of her team-high 14 kills in the final frame, while senior Shanon Volpis was a perfect 4-for-4 on attacks in the fifth. Volpis ended up finishing with a season-high 13 kills in the big win over the Golden Grizzlies.

• Coming Up In The Clutch
Junior outside Kylie Wilks has had countless memorable moments for the Panthers in her first two-plus years on campus. Oddly enough, despite finishing with her second-lowest kill total to date, Wilks came up clutch in the closing moments of the Oct. 20 win over Wright State. Her second kill of the day erased any doubt of extras and clinched a 3-1 win for MKE.

• Up Next
MKE wraps up the 2018 regular season on the road next weekend. The Panthers will travel to UIC for a rare Thursday evening match before closing out the regular season Friday at Green Bay.

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Players Mentioned

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

#6 Sara Kartalovic: RS; 6' 4"; Senior

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

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

#13 Rylie Vaughn: S; 5' 9"; Freshman

#18 Shanon Volpis: RS; 6' 2"; Senior

Players Mentioned

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

#6 Sara Kartalovic
: 6' 4"; Senior
: RS

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

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

#13 Rylie Vaughn
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: S

#18 Shanon Volpis
: 6' 2"; Senior
: RS