MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Thanks to a pair of crucial victories last weekend, the Milwaukee volleyball team earned the No. 2 seed and a bye for the Horizon League Tournament. The Panthers finished 12-4 in the Horizon League, earning their highest postseason seed since 2014. Milwaukee will head to Ohio and face the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinals matchups.
 
Last Week
The Panthers earned a pair of crucial wins this past weekend, sweeping UIC and taking down Green Bay 3-2. Against the Flames, Milwaukee jumped ahead early, hitting .467 with 15 kills, and never looked back for the 3-0 win. The Panthers showed resiliency against Green Bay and after dropping the first, bounced back for the five-set win.
 
Scouting the Competition
Milwaukee will wait until Saturday to know who it faces thanks to a first-round bye. In the quarterfinals, No. 3 Green Bay takes on No. 6 Oakland before No. 4 Northern Kentucky and No. 5 UIC take each other on.
 
The Panthers' will have the Saturday evening match, with first serve scheduled for 5:00 pm CT.
 
Horizon League History
Since joining the league in 1994, Milwaukee has taken home the tournament trophy eight times with the last Horizon League Tournament title coming in 2013. The Panthers' have been to the title match a total of 11 times.
 
Under head coach Susie Johnson, Milwaukee is 12-6 overall with four tournament titles (2008, 2009, 2011, 2013).
 
All-League Accolades
Ari Miller, Carmen Heilemann, and Jess Grabowski each collected a postseason award as announced by the Horizon League office on November 21.
 
Miller's stellar collegiate debut earned her the title of Freshman of the Year and nods on the First Team All-League and All-Freshman Team. Heilemann was honored with a second straight First Team All-League award while Grabowski was selected as Honorable Mention All-League.
 
Insane Improvement
Last season, Milwaukee finished with eight wins. This year, the Panthers finished the regular season 25-5 and own the nation's best win improvement (+17) from a year ago.
 
The 25 victories are the most for a Milwaukee team since 2011 (25) and the 12 Horizon League victories are the most for the Panthers since 2013 (12).
 
Home Sweet Home
The Panthers have concluded their home schedule, winning 12 of their 13 contests  at the Klotsche Center. The 12 victories are the most since going 12-2 in 2011 and the ninth season with at least 10 wins on their home court.
 
Milwaukee is now 244-102 on its home court, a winning percentage of .705.
 
National Numbers
Not only do the Panthers own some of the best numbers in the Horizon League, but in the nation as well. Below are where Milwaukee stands in the league and out of 332 NCAA Division I teams.
 
-1st/3rd in Total Assists (1,506)
-1st/13th in Assists Per Set (13.45)
-1st/3rd in Total Kills (1,605)
-1st/15th in Kills Per Set (14.33)
-1st/55th in Hitting Percentage (.243)
-1st/40th in Service Aces (171)
 
Shining Senior
Shari Volpis put together an outstanding final weekend of the regular season, averaging a team-best 3.38 kills while hitting .373 in the two wins to earn Nike Horizon League Offensive Player of  the Week. Volpis has been on fire recently, hitting .338 with 59 kills over the last four matches. The senior put away a career-high 18 kills on two separate occasions in the four-match stretch. Additionally, Volpis added 13 digs and a pair of blocks.
 
All Day, Every Day
Kylie Wilks and Jenn Dore have played in every single match of their careers (118) which is tied for second all-time for the Panthers. The two are also in the top five for sets played at Milwaukee.
 
Rewriting the Record Books
Thanks to impressive efforts all over the court, the 2019 Panthers are leaving their mark all over the Milwaukee record books.
 
-As a team, the 25 victories are the second most in since joining NCAA DI in 1990, one behind the 2007 mark of 26
 
-The .242 hitting percentage is tied for the Panthers' second-best mark, matching the 2006 percentage
 
-Jess Grabowski currently has 570 digs, third all-time for a single season behind Myanna Ruiz' 579 (2015) and Lauren Felsing's 645 (2008). Her 5.09 digs per set mark is the best in Milwaukee history
 
-Ari Miller's 305 kills is currently fourth most as a freshman and just three kills behind third place. Miller also has 94 blocks, tied for sixth most for Panthers' freshman. With a .289 attack percentage, Miller ranks second all-time for Milwaukee freshman.
 
-Kylie Wilks became just the fifth player in school history to record at least 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
 
Joining the 1K Club
In just her second year for the black and gold, Jess Grabowski reached 1,000 career digs, becoming the 16th player to reach the grand mark. The Greendale, Wis. native recorded her 1,000th dig in her 53rd career match, the fastest in Panthers history. Grabowski has recorded double-digit dig totals in 28 of 30 matches this year, reaching the 20-dig plateau 14 times including a career-high 35 against Wright State on October 19. Grabowski also became the first player to capture two defensive awards in the same season since Morgan Potter in 2011.
 
Additionally, Rylie Vaughn joined the 1K club, recording her 1,000th career assist in a 3-1 win over Northern Kentucky. In just her second year, Vaughn has already cracked the top-10 career assist list at Milwaukee, ranking ninth with 1,280 assists.

Catch All the Action
Thanks to ESPN+, Milwaukee volleyball will be readily available for viewers. The Panthers have nine home games scheduled for streaming 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.
 
For road games, visit MKEPanthers.com for live coverage links.