Women's Volleyball November 15, 2018

Panthers Off To Green Bay For #HLVB Tournament

Milwaukee enters tournament as fifth seed

MILWAUKEE – The field is set and the Milwaukee volleyball team is headed to the Horizon League Tournament, starting this Friday at regular-season champion Green Bay. The Panthers enter this year's tournament as the No. 5 seed after finishing the conference season with a 7-9 record. MKE will start off with a matchup against No. 4 UIC, scheduled to start 6 pm Friday evening from the Kress Center. Saturday's semifinals are scheduled for 3 and 6 pm, while Sunday's championship match is set to start at 2 pm. All five matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

• The Week Ahead
With the regular season in the books, the Milwaukee volleyball team heads to the Horizon League Tournament this weekend. This year's tournament is hosted by regular-season champ Green Bay. The Panthers - the fifth seed in this year's tournament - kick things off against fourth-seeded UIC Friday in the quarterfinals at 6 pm.

The Panthers' next opponent would be dependent on the other side of the bracket. If No. 6 Wright State beats No. 3 Northern Kentucky (those two play prior to Milwaukee's match with UIC), MKE would go up against No. 2 Cleveland State. If the Panthers are the lowest remaining seed, however, they will take on top-seeded Green Bay. The league semifinals will take place Saturday afternoon, with Sunday's championship match set for 2 pm.

• Scouting Notebook
Milwaukee and UIC are plenty familiar with one another, having just played last Thursday in the Flames home finale. UIC won that one, 3-0, to take the regular-season series. MKE still leads the all-time series, 44-22.

UIC ranks second in the league in a number of categories entering the league tournament, including assists (12.78/set), blocks (2.36/set) and aces (1.41/set).

• Tournament History
MKE has had plenty of success at the Horizon League Tournament over the years, winning the whole thing eight times since joining the league. In fact, four of those eight tournament titles have come under current head coach Susie Johnson, who owns an outstanding 12-5 overall record in conference tournament history.

• An Impressive Turn
Despite a tough start to the season, this Milwaukee squad never gave up - something that has shown, especially once league play started. The Panthers went on a strong run where they won six of eight. That run ultimately proved vital, slotting Milwaukee fifth in this year's Horizon League Tournament after just missing out on the dance last year.

• All-League Honors
This year's all-league awards were announced earlier this week, with Milwaukee earning a spot on this year's lists. Juniors Jenn Dore, Louise Kiekhofer and Kylie Wilks were all named to the all-academic squad after their work both on the court and in the classroom, while sophomore Carmen Heilemann was named to the first-team all-league squad after making big strides in her second season as a Panther.

• She Can Dig It
Freshman Jess Grabowski is on an impressive start to her collegiate career. Entering this week's league tournament, the Greendale native has already racked up an impressive 546 digs - already a freshman-record in MKE history. Her 4.92 digs/set would not only be a program freshman record, but would rank the third-highest single-season performance in Panther history. 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 cracked 3,000 career assists recently, which already ranks 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 933 digs (ranking 16th) and 802 kills (ranking 15th).

Meanwhile, a number of newcomers have had impressive opening collegiate campaigns for MKE this season. Rylie Vaughn's 582 assists stand eighth on the freshman record board. Jess Grabowksi's 546 digs is already a record for a Panther freshman, while her 4.92 digs/set would also 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.

• 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.

• 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 weekend with 499 total wins.

• Up Next
The winner of the Horizon League Tournament will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, which starts Nov. 29.

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Players Mentioned

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

#4 Carmen Heilemann: MB; 6' 0"; Sophomore

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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

#4 Carmen Heilemann
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: MB

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

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

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

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