MILWAUKEE – With the Panthers currently in first place in the Horizon League with a 9-2 conference record, Milwaukee welcomes in Youngstown State on Friday and Robert Morris on Saturday looking for season series swept against the Penguins and Colonials while also looking to extend its lead in the Horizon League Standings.

Both the Penguins and Colonials lost on Tuesday evening and will face the Panthers after dropping 3-1 decisions to Milwaukee in late September, when the Panthers visited Youngstown, Ohio and Moon Township, Pa. 
 
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Friday, October 27 – Youngstown State at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 6:00 pm
Saturday, October 28 – Robert Morris at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 4:00 pm
 
QUICK LINKS
Live Stats (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
ESPN+ (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Follow Along (On X): @MKE_Volleyball
Tickets (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/tickets
 
PROMOTIONS (Full Promotional Schedule)
Friday vs. Youngstown State – Teddy Bear Toss (presented by Abacus Marketing); 'Vault Collection' Pop-Up Shop (presented by Abacus Marketing), 'Pack the K' (Single-Match Attendance Record Attempt).
Saturday vs. Robert Morris – Milwaukee Appreciation / Shoe Drive with Jacarrie Kicks for Kids
 
FAST FACTS
» Milwaukee enters this weekend's home set against Youngstown State and Robert Morris as winners of five of their last six including last weekend's wins over Purdue Fort Wayne and IUPUI.
» Milwaukee is looking for the season sweep of both opponents this week after 3-1 wins in Youngstown, Ohio and Moon Township, Pa. at the end of September.
» Milwaukee is 39-10 in all-time meetings against Youngstown State, including a 20-3 mark in home matches. The Panthers are also 6-0 in meetings with Robert Morris, which includes a 3-0 mark at home against the Colonials.
» With her appearance in the team's match on Friday against Youngstown State, Ari Miller will have appeared in more matches than any Panther in program history. She will break the tie with Kayla Price (2011-15), who also appeared in 127 career matches. Miller is also two sets shy of tying, and three sets from breaking the career sets played record, the all-time record is 471 set by Natalie Schmitting from 2007-10.
» Entering play this weekend, Madi Malone has 991 career kills as she looks to join the 1,000 kill club, which includes Ari Miller, who is currently at 1,469 career kills and is 31 shy from 1,500 kills. With 1,500 kills, she would become just the third player in program history to reach the milestone.
» MKE won the third set against Purdue Fort Wayne by a 33-31 score. It was the fourth time that the Panthers scored 30 points in a set dating back to the 2020 (spring 2021) season. In 2021 at Green Bay, the Panthers scored 30 points in a 32-30 first set loss (won match 3-1), they also scored a 30-28 win against UC Santa Barbara in the third set of a four-set loss. The last time the Panthers won a set and match with a 30+ point effort, came on March 15, 2021, when th Panthers beat Oakland 31-29 in the second set of a 3-0 win over the Golden Grizzlies.
» 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. She earned her 300th career head coaching win on October 20, which includes her two seasons at Parkside.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Entering the week with a 7-17 record and a 2-11 mark in Horizon League play, the Penguins fell to Northern Kentucky on Tuesday before heading to Wisconsin to take on Milwaukee (Friday) and Green Bay (Saturday). Earlier this season, the Panthers defeated Youngstown State by a 3-1 score in northeast Ohio as YSU won the third set of the match before the Panthers rebounded for the four-set win.

In the match on September 30, Milwaukee was led by Madi Malone with 12 kills, while Lakyn Graves had a career-high 11 in the effort, with Czhen Beneby collecting nine. During the match, Milwaukee had a season-best nine service aces and will look to duplicate the effort on Friday. Youngstown State had three players with at least 10 kills including leader Jazmin Vergara with 15, Josi Borum had 22 assists, while Abbie Householder and Isidora Sisic led the team with nine digs apiece. Dayan Malave had assisted on six of the Penguins' eight blocks on the afternoon.

Householder leads YSU with 249 kills, while Vergara is right behind with 245 as the pair are the only two Penguins with more than 220 points on the season. YSU's two setter setup has Borum leading the way with 477 assists and Isabel Schaefbauer with 438 on the season. Householder with 28 aces and Sisic with 25 aces lead the way, while Sisis is also the team's top defender with 339 digs. Julia Sell leads the Penguins up front with 100 blocks.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – ROBERT MORRIS
The Colonials of Robert Morris are 3-10 in Horizon League play with a 6-18 record overall on the season after falling to Wright State on Tuesday evening before the weekend trip to Wisconsin. Milwaukee will look for another positive result against the Colonials, after taking down RMU on September 29 at the UPMC Events Center in suburban Pittsburgh.

During their first meeting of the season Milwaukee took the opening set before dropping the second in a tight 27-25 stanza. The Panthers answered back with back-to-back set wins to take the match against the Colonials in four sets. Madi Malone led the Panthers with 19 kills, while both Ari Miller and Lakyn Graves had 10 kills apiece. Kaley Blake put together a strong showing with 28 helpers, while Miller had eight blocks, while Rachel Scott notched seven blocks up front for the Panthers. Sarah Schrader had the back line covered with 24 digs on the evening matchup.

As Natalie Stepanovich goes, so does Robert Morris as Stepanovich had 12 of RMU's 42 kills against the Panthers in late September. Stepanovich has 282 kills on the season, with Hillarie Adams second on the team with 186 on the season. Ashleigh Wallin has emerged as the team's primary setter with 482 assists, while Kaitlyn Brown has been serviceable in reserve with 208 assists. The pair of Wallin and Stepanovich also both have over 30 aces on the season, while the duo of Azra Eric and Emma Brown each have more than 40 blocks each. Allena Carmody leads the team with 384 digs.

LAST TIME OUT
In its most recent road trip, the Panthers returned to Milwaukee with a pair of wins as the team knocked off the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons in five sets, before connecting on a four-set win over IUPUI on Saturday afternoon. Madi Malone put together another strong weekend as she led the team with both 41 kills and 26 digs to help the team to the pair of wins.

On Friday, Milwaukee dropped the first two sets before winnings a marathon third set by a 33-31 score. The Panthers flexed in the fourth and fifth sets with 25-12, and 15-11 wins to close out the victory. Milwaukee hit .222 on the match, but had turned things around in the latter three sets with 43 kills against just 12 errors, after committing as many errors in the opening two sets.

The Panthers dropped the opening set by a 25-18 score against IUPUI but rebounded with three consecutive set victories for sets two through four. The Panthers had a combined four errors in the final two sets, while connecting on 26 kills. During the match, Milwaukee hit .298 as Malone along with Ari Miller and Natalie Schmitz all had at least 11 kills in the win.

IN THE NATION
Out of 332 Division I programs, Milwaukee is currently second in the nation with 1,251 kills, second in the country with 1,163 assists, and fifth in the country with 229 blocks on the season.  Milwaukee also holds a spot in the top-10 with 3,296 total attacking attempts heading into this weekend's action.

Individually, Ari Miller is 22nd in the nation with 374 points, while Madi Malone is 51st in the same category with 345.5 points. Miller is also top-10 in the nation with 110 blocks, while she is 51st in the country with a .375 hitting percentage.

MILLER'S TOP-10 ASCENT
With 289 kills this season, Ari Miller now has 1,469 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 110 blocks in her final collegiate season to give her 426 career blocks. She is currently in third on the all-time blocks list and 48 more to reach the top-two 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 127 career matches (t-1st) and 469 sets played (2nd).

HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS
Milwaukee has had a league-leading six selections for Horizon League Player of the Week as Madi Malone earned her third selection this Monday. In addition to Malone's three 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 four selections, while PFW has had five selections as a team.

PICKING UP THE PACE IN HORIZON LEAGUE PLAY
In 11 conference matches this season, Madi Malone has stepped it up with a team-best 156 kills, good enough for 3.80 kills per set and is hitting .292 on the year with a team-best 397 attacking attempts. Malone is tied for second on the team with 11 service aces and is third on the team with 101 digs during that span.

In 25 matches overall on the season, Malone has 3.24 kills per set with a team-best 314 kills on a team-high 873 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 25 matches Milwaukee has 229 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 229 and are also second in the league in solo blocks with 51 thus far. Ari Miller is third in the league with 16 solo blocks, while Lakyn Graves is fourth with 14 on the season. Czhen Beneby is also in the top-10 with 11 solo blocks.

With 110 total blocks on the season individually, Ari Miller is currently 10th in all of NCAA Division I and is just 19 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.

On October 20, Johnson earned her 300th career victory, which includes her 280 at Milwaukee and 20 during her first two collegiate seasons as a head coach at Parkside.

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 heads back on the road for the final week of road action beginning with a matchup with in-state foe Green Bay on October 31 at 6 p.m. The Panthers will then visit Wright State on November 3, before traveling to Northern Kentucky on November 4.