Women's Volleyball September 26, 2018

MKE Volleyball Finally Returns Home This Weekend

Panthers have played last 12 matches on the road

MILWAUKEE – After over a month of matches on the road, the Milwaukee volleyball team finally returns to the Klotsche Center for the start of a long home stretch, starting this weekend. The home weekend starts Friday with UIC coming to the Klotsche Center for a 6pm first serve in what is the start of seven of the next eight matches at home. Then, in-state rival Green Bay comes to campus Saturday for a matinee match, starting at 4 pm.

• Scouting Notebook
After going 7-6 in non-conference play, UIC started last weekend's Horizon League action going 1-1 on the road. The Flames posted a 3-1 win at IUPUI before falling 3-1 at Wright State one day after Milwaukee's win over the Raiders. UIC and MKE have two other common opponents from non-conference action in Northwestern (falling, 3-0) and Omaha (losing, 3-1). The Flames are led by second-year head coach Justin Ingram, who guided his team to a fifth-place finish in the league last year. UIC enters the weekend ranked in the top half of the league standings in a number of statistical categories, including standing second in both service aces (1.65/set) and blocks (2.38/set).

Like the majority of the league, Green Bay opened up conference play last weekend going 1-1 with loss at Northern Kentucky before winning at IUPUI. The Phoenix has taken on a challenging non-conference schedule, going 5-7 overall to sit at 6-8 heading into Saturday. Sophomore setter Taylor Wolf leads the conference with 4.59 kills/set, while junior setter Maddie Yoss is averaging a conference-best 10.22 assists/set so far. Green Bay will head to UIC Sunday after its match with the Panthers.

• Series History
Milwaukee has a long-standing history with both of its weekend opponents, holding commanding leads over both in the all-time series. The MKE-GB rivalry is one of the longest-tenured matchups in Panther history, dating all the way back to 1980 - just seven years after the start of Milwaukee's program. The Panthers hold a 52-19 lead overall, including a 45-19 edge at the Division-I level. Meanwhile, MKE leads UIC all-time, 44-21.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 493 total wins.

• 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 15 matches of the year.

• Sophomores Stepping Up
A pair of sophomore middles have shown what one year in the Panther program can do for development.

Going up against up against Big Ten foe Northwestern, Makenzie Mroczenski tallied career highs in kills (12), blocks (five) and digs (six) in just the third match of the 2018 season. Then, less than one week later, Mroczenski racked up 16 kills while hitting a career-best .382 at the net to go with eight blocks against Boise State.

Then, at the Bradley tournament, Carmen Heilemann put together a career-best performance in the win over Eastern Illinois, hitting .417 with 13 kills to go with a pair of blocks. She followed that up with another 10 kills the following day in a three-setter against Bradley.

• 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
The Panthers have a bit of a unique schedule next week. After playing primarily Fridays and Saturdays thus far, MKE will travel to IUPUI for a Wednesday contest with the Jaguars before playing host to Cleveland State Sunday at 2 pm.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

#2 Makenzie Mroczenski: MB; 6' 2"; Sophomore

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

#2 Makenzie Mroczenski
: 6' 2"; Sophomore
: MB

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