MILWAUKEE – After recording wins against IUPUI and Purdue Fort Wayne at home in late September, the Milwaukee volleyball team heads to Indiana in search of season sweeps against the Mastodons and Jaguars as the Panthers kick off the second half of conference play. The Panthers finished the first half of Horizon League competition with a 7-2 record and were tied for the conference lead after last weekend.
  
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Friday, October 20 – Milwaukee at Purdue Fort Wayne | Gates Sports Center | Fort Wayne, Indiana | 5:00 pm
Saturday, October 21 – Milwaukee at IUPUI | The Jungle | Indianapolis, Indiana | 3:00 pm
 
QUICK LINKS
Live Stats (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
ESPN+ (Purdue Fort Wayne Match Only): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Follow Along (On X): @MKE_Volleyball
Tickets (Purdue Fort Wayne): Purdue Fort Wayne Tickets
 
FAST FACTS
» After starting their four-match conference road streak with a 1-1 record against Oakland and Cleveland State, the Panthers continue on to Indiana to take on Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday followed by IUPUI on Saturday afternoon.
» The Panthers defeated the Mastodons in three sets at home on September 23 this season, which included a season-best 25-9 score in the second set against Purdue Fort Wayne. The win improved the Milwaukee record against the Mastodons to 9-1 all time, with the lone loss coming in the Panthers' first trip to Fort Wayne in 2010. MKE is currently riding an eight-match winning streak against the 'Dons entering Friday's match.
» Milwaukee meets IUPUI for the second time during the regular season on Saturday afternoon, as the Panthers will look for the season sweep against the Jaguars. Milwaukee knocked off IUPUI at the Klotsche Center on September 22. The Panthers finished the match strong and took the third set by a 25-11 score.
» Through the first round of the double round robin, Milwaukee and Wright State were tied atop the league standings with identical 7-2 records. Wright State won their match on Tuesday evening to take a half-game lead on the Panthers, with Northern Kentucky in third at 7-3 following their win on Tuesday. IUPUI and Purdue Fort Wayne are currently tied for seventh in the conference.
» The Panthers are led by head coach Susie Johnson, who is in her 17th season as head coach and 27th overall with the program. Johnson became the program's all-time head coaching wins leader with her 272nd on September 19; later in the week she earned her 500th career win on the Panther sideline, which includes her time as both a head coach and an assistant coach.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – PURDUE FORT WAYNE
Opening the second half of Horizon League play the Panthers will visit Purdue Fort Wayne after a three-set sweep at home on September 23. In the match, Ari Miller led the Panthers with 13 kills as MKE connected on a season-best .394 hitting percentage in league matches. Miller also led the Panthers with five blocks, while Kaley Blake and Josie Johnson combined for 34 assists. Sarah Schrader had 17 digs to lead the Panther back line.

The Mastodons are 7-14 overall with a 2-7 mark in the Horizon League and will welcome in both Milwaukee and Green Bay this weekend. The Mastodons went to five sets with the Phoenix in late September, before dropping the three-setter to the Panthers a day later at the Klotsche Center.

Panna Ratkai led the Mastodons with eight kills in the team's trip to Milwaukee, as she continues to be one of the top offensive forces in the conference as she has 329 kills in 21 matches this season and has a team-best 34 service aces. Ratkai is ranked ninth in NCAA Division I in kills and is also ninth in the nation in points and 15th in total attacks. Taya Haffner has 598 of the team's 931 assists, while LonDynn Betts has the team lead in blocks with 345, and Jena Medearis has a team-best 51 blocks.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – IUPUI
Milwaukee made quick work of the Jaguars in their initial meeting of 2023, with the Panthers disposing of IUPUI in three sets on September 22 including a dominant 25-11 score in the third set for the win. The Panther offense hit .237 against the Jaguars with 30 kills on 26 assists, while the team had a season-best 14 blocks on the effort.

IUPUI is 8-12 overall with a 2-7 record in conference action, which includes a set of weekend wins over Youngstown State and Robert Morris two weekends ago. After being swept by Milwaukee on September 22, the Jaguars went five sets against Green Bay the following afternoon and fell to the Phoenix. IUPUI has taken two sets from Oakland and one from Purdue Fort Wayne, but were shutout last weekend at Wright State and Northern Kentucky.

The Jaguars had five service aces and nine serving errors against the Panthers at the Klotsche Center but are one of the top teams in the conference in serving with 150 aces on the season thus far. That number is second in the league, only to Green Bay, while it is the 26th best total in NCAA Division I. Grace Purichia leads the team with 34 aces, which is tied for fifth best in the Horizon League. Addie Evans and Brooke Phillips both have more than 20 aces on the year.

LAST TIME OUT
Milwaukee played a pair of three-set matches last week, coming out even on the weekend with a 1-1 overall mark. The Panthers swept Oakland in an impressive showing against the Golden Grizzlies as the Panthers won by the scores of 25-18, 25-12, and 25-9. Milwaukee hit .357 on the night in Michigan and dominated the effort with 40 kills, four aces, eight blocks, 38 assists and 40 digs. Madi Malone had a team-best 11 kills, while Kaley Blake had 18 assists and Kara Erdmann added 15 digs on the effort.

The Panthers were not as successful the following afternoon at Cleveland State, as the Vikings of CSU were able to edge out the Panthers in the three-set match by the scores of 25-20, 25-22, and 26-24. Milwaukee was only able to muster 38 kills on the match with 16 of those coming in the third set. It was once again Malone to lead the offense with 14 kills, while Blake with 15 and Josie Johnson with 12 had combined for the Panther assist total. Erdmann also led the Panthers with 10 more digs, while Sarah Schrader had six on the match.

IN THE NATION
Out of 332 Division I programs, Milwaukee is currently third in the nation with 1,140 kills, fourth in the country with 1,058 assists, and fifth in the country with 208 blocks on the season.  Milwaukee also holds a spot in the top-10 with 3,005 total attacking attempts heading into this weekend's action.

Individually, Ari Miller is 23rd in the nation with 342.5 points, while Madi Malone is 72nd in the same category with 301 points. Miller is also top-10 in the nation with 102 blocks, while she is 52nd in the country with a .376 hitting percentage.

MILLER'S TOP-10 ASCENT
With 264 kills this season, Ari Miller now has 1,444 for her career with Milwaukee, that total now places her third on the all-time Division I kills list in program history. Next on the list is Laura Dallenbach in second place all-time as Dallenbach finished her career with 1,534 career kills.

In addition to her kills mark, Miller now has a career-best 102 blocks in her final collegiate season to give her 418 career blocks. She is currently in fourth on the all-time blocks list and needs one more to reach the top-three on the all-time blocks list.

Miller also moved into the top-10 all time in both matches played and sets played, Miller has now seen time in 125 career matches (2nd) and 460 sets played (4th).

HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS
Milwaukee has had a league-leading five selections for Horizon League Player of the Week as Madi Malone earned her second-consecutive selection last Monday. In addition to Malone's two selections, Ari Miller has earned the weekly nod from the conference on three occasions in the month of September.

Malone and Miller are two of just three Horizon League student-athletes to earn multiple Player of the Week nods this season. Panna Ratkai of Purdue Fort Wayne has three selections to tie Miller for the league lead.

PICKING UP THE PACE IN HORIZON LEAGUE PLAY
In nine conference matches this season, Madi Malone has stepped it up with a team-best 115 kills, good enough for 3.59 kills per set and is hitting .287 on the year with a team-best 296 attacking attempts. Malone is tied for second on the team with nine service aces and is third on the team with 75 digs during that span.

In 23 matches overall on the season, Malone has 3.10 kills per set with a team-best 273 kills on a team-high 772 attempts. Malone only had two service aces in non-conference play, finishing non-league play with 131 digs.

BLOCK PARTY
Following 179 blocks in 2019, the Panthers have increased their team's total block total every season, with 180 in 2021, and 211 in 2022. Through 23 matches Milwaukee has 208 blocks and are on a strong pace to continue their upward trend in 2023.

The Panthers are tops in the Horizon League with their team block total at 208 and are also second in the league in solo blocks with 46 thus far. Ari Miller and Lakyn Graves are third in the league with 13 solo blocks, while Czhen Beneby is tied for sixth in the league with 11.

With 102 blocks on the season individually, Ari Miller is currently 10th in all of NCAA Division I and is just 16 blocks off the national lead.

DOUBLE-QUARTER
Twice this season setters Kaley Blake and Josie Johnson have recorded at least 25 assists each in the span of one contest. Against Villanova early in the season, Johnson and 30 and Blake had 26 in the five-setter against the Wildcats. Against Air Force on September 15, Johnson had 29 and Blake registered 25. The duo has now accomplished the feat on three occasions in their career, with their first instance coming on October 18 of the 2022 season, when Johnson had 26 and Blake had 29 against IUPUI.

The last time two setters had more than 30 assists in a single match came back on August 29, 2021, when Blake had 32 assists and former teammate Rylie Vaughn had 31 in the team's five-set match against Valparaiso at the Klotsche Center.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
In her final season with the team, Sarah Schrader has played a vital role in the team's defensive efforts in the back row this year with a team-best 316 digs, which is already the second highest dig total for her career. In 2022, Schrader had a career-best 324 digs and is well ahead of that pace as she is averaging 3.85 digs per set compared to last year's 3.31 dig per set as a junior.

With her 36 digs against Western Illinois on September 8, Schrader moved into a third-place tie on the single-match digs list in five-set matches, equaling the mark of Myanna Ruiz in September of 2015. The single match-record for the Panthers is 41 digs set by Becky Peters in 2005, while Lauren Felsing is the only other player to reach 40 digs in a match as she did so in 2009 with 40 digs in a four-set match.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP HERE
Following strong freshman campaigns in 2022 Natalie Schmitz and Josie Johnson both reached new career-high marks at their respective positions during the opening trio of matches in Michigan.

Schmitz has secured a career-best 17 kills in three matches this season, including the team's matches against Villanova, Montana State, and Northwestern. Johnson also reached a career-high mark in the match against the Bobcats of Montana State with 31 assists.

COACHING MILESTONES
Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson earned her 272nd head coaching victory at Milwaukee to become the program's all-time leader in wins as a Division I program (since 1990). Johnson earned the win with a five-set victory over the Chicago State Cougars on Tuesday evening and is now the department's leader in wins for any women's sport at Milwaukee.

In addition to her head coaching wins total with the Panthers, Johnson also recorded her 500th career win with the Panthers program on Saturday against Purdue Fort Wayne. Johnson has 274 wins as head coach, coupled with 226 wins during her 10 seasons as an assistant coach with the program.

1,000 DIVISION I MATCHES
Earlier this season, the Milwaukee volleyball program played its 1,000th Division I match in its 34th season of competition. The Panthers won the match in five sets over Western Illinois at the SIUE Cougar Classic. The program's first-ever match took place on August 31, 1990, against Wright State in Macomb, Illinois at a tournament hosted by Western Illinois.

LOOKING AHEAD
After this weekend, Milwaukee returns home to take on Youngstown State on Friday, October 27 at 6:00 p.m., while the team will follow that up with a home match against Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.