MILWAUKEE – The Panther volleyball team returns home on Tuesday evening to start a three-game Horizon League homestand beginning with in-state rival Green Bay at 6:00 p.m. inside the Klotsche Center. The week will continue for Milwaukee as the Panthers will also host both Northern Kentucky and Wright State to close out the weekend.
 
The Panthers are looking to continue its hot start in conference play as they are currently 4-0 in league matches, while the team is currently on a 12-2 run over its last 14 contests.
 
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Tuesday, October 3 – Green Bay at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 6:00 pm
Friday, October 6 – Northern Kentucky at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 6:00 pm
Saturday, October 7 – Wright State 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)
Tuesday vs. Green Bay – Residence Life Night
Friday vs. Northern Kentucky – Pink Out
Saturday vs. Wright State – Camper Appreciation Day / Student Day
 
FAST FACTS
» Milwaukee continues to roll with two more wins last week and have now won 12 of its last 14 matches including six in a row heading into Tuesday's match with Green Bay. The Panthers are a perfect 4-for-4 in conference matches and meet 4-0 Green Bay before welcoming in a pair of top contenders in the Horizon League with Northern Kentucky and Wright State.
» MKE was swept by GB a season ago but have dominated with six wins prior. Overall the Panthers have 50 all-time wins, while the Phoenix have won 23. The Panthers own a 24-10 record at home vs. its in-state foe.
» Milwaukee has dropped its last three meetings with Northern Kentucky and have dropped 10 of 17 all-time meetings. However, the Panthers are 6-1 in the friendly confines of the Klotsche Center.
» Despite six losses in their last seven all-time meetings, Milwaukee is 44-21 in all-time matches against Wright State. At home, the Panthers are 24-7 against the Raiders.
» 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 in the September 19 matchup at Chicago State; later in the week she earned her 500th career win on the Panther sideline against Purdue Fort Wayne, which includes her time as both a head coach and an assistant coach.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – GREEN BAY
Entering with a 6-10 overall record, the Phoenix are on a four-game winning streak and are unblemished in Horizon League play. As the travel partner with Milwaukee, the Phoenix have identical opponents and own wins at home against IUPUI and Purdue Fort Wayne, while picking up road wins over Robert Morris and Youngstown State. Green Bay needed five sets to beat both IUPUI and PFW at home, while Milwaukee swept the Jaguars and Mastodons.

The Phoenix have been towards the top of the league in service aces, led by Hannah Vanden Berg, who leads the conference with 30 aces on the year. Vanden Berg also leads Green Bay with 169 kills, while Cora Behnke is right behind with 165. Running a two-setter offense, the Phoenix have a pair of setters with more than 200 assists each as Emma Johnson leads the team with 253, while Calli Gentry has 212. The Phoenix also have four players with more than 100 digs with Emma Best recording 176. Up front, Tiffany Perlman has 47 blocks, while Ellie Kurpeikis is close behind with 43.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Northern Kentucky is sitting at 9-7 overall on the year and are 4-1 in Horizon League matches including wins in its last three. The Norse have recorded wins against Robert Morris, Cleveland State and Oakland in its last three, while also picking up a conference win over Youngstown State. Northern Kentucky is looking to return to the Horizon League Championship match for the second consecutive season, as the Norse fell to Wright State in three sets in 2022.

Aside from Milwaukee's Ari Miller, the Norse have Skyy Smith who is second to Miller in hitting percentage at .342 (Miller is .385), as well as blocks with 68 (Miller has 83). Abby Kanakry leads the Norse with 186 kills with Joy Banks close on her heels for the team lead with 181 kills as the pair average better than three kills per set. Another two-setter offense, Torie Houston has a team-high 332 while Katy Yopko has 304 on the year. Houston also leads NKU with 26 aces on the year. Smith has 68 blocks including 14 of the solo variety, which is second among Horizon League front line players. In the back court, Anna Burke is the team leader with 294 digs with more than 100 ahead of Banks with 192 digs in 2023.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – WRIGHT STATE
Defending Horizon League Champion Wright State has played one of the toughest non-conference schedules among the 10 Horizon League programs and are just 10-10 on the year with a 4-1 mark to start of league competition. The Raiders lost to nationally ranked Washington State and Louisville, while also falling to Loyola Chicago and Dayton, who were both receiving votes at the time of competition. WSU has wins over Robert Morris, Northern Kentucky, Youngstown State, and Cleveland State, while suffering a four-set loss to Oakland.

Megan Alders is one of the top attackers in the Horizon League and is second in the conference with 205 kills and is 3.42 kills per set, meanwhile Katie Meyer is tops in the league as she averages 9.64 assists per set with 424. The Raiders have a pair of student-athletes with more than 15 aces as Andrew Bortulin leads the team with 25, while Jenny Wessling has 21 aces on the year. Reilly Zegunis has a team-best 53 blocks, while Aaliyah Byers has 51, followed by Callie Martin with 41. Wessing has more than double her closest teammate with 316 digs, while Martin is second on the Raiders with 180.

LAST TIME OUT
Milwaukee has won 12 of its last 14 matches including all four in Horizon League play thus far on the year. The Panthers connected on four-set wins this past weekend on the road as Milwaukee downed Robert Morris on Friday evening, while also knocking off Youngstown State on Saturday.

On Friday, Milwaukee was led by Madi Malone with 19 kills, while Kaley Blake propelled the offense with 28 assists. Josie Johnson had a team-best two aces while also contributing with 15 assists. Defensively, Ari Miller matched her season-best with eight blocks. while Rachel Scott had a career-high seven blocks. Sarah Schrader tallied 24 digs on the defensive side of the ball. Milwaukee hit .261 as a team against the Colonials, which included a match-best .382 in the third set, where the Panthers recorded 17 kills and dominated the scoreboard at 25-13 before winning the match in the fourth set at 25-17.

The Panthers were also led by Malone on Saturday with 12 kills as she hit .440 on the match with 12 digs for sixth double-double of the season. Lakyn Graves added a career-high 11 kills in the effort while hitting .471. Blake had 24 assists and Johnson added 20 of her own, while Miller had a season-best three aces, with Blake adding a pair. Graves also led the Panther defense with five blocks, as the Penguins were only able to hit .213 on the match in comparison to Milwaukee's .250 hitting percentage as a team.

MILLER'S TOP-10 ASCENT
With 216 kills this season, Ari Miller now has 1,396 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 83 blocks in her final collegiate season to give her 399 career blocks. She is currently in fifth on the all-time blocks list and needs four more to reach the top-four on the all-time blocks list.

Miller also moved into the top-10 all time in both matches played and sets played having played in all three sets against Purdue Fort Wayne on September 23. Miller has now seen time in 120 career matches (T-6th) and 442 sets played (8th).

INDIVIDUAL ACCOLADES
For the fourth time in six weeks in 2023, Milwaukee has had a student-athlete named Horizon League Player of the Week as Madi Malone earned her first recognition of the season for her efforts in the team's two-match week against Robert Morris and Youngstown State.

Malone joins Ari Miller, who was named Horizon League Player of the Week on three separate occasions during the month of September. Miller was also named to the All-Tournament Team at both Western Michigan and St. Thomas, while Bri Geurts was named to the All-Tournament Team at the SIUE Cougar Classic.

EIGHT IS GREAT FOR NUMBER 14
A regular for the Panthers since her career began, Madi Malone has been one of the most consistent pieces in the Panther lineup throughout the year as she plays all the way around and is second on the team with 161 digs, and second on the team with 200 kills.

This year, Malone has gotten at least eight kills in 15 of Milwaukee's 18 matches, and 25 of her last 32 matches dating back to October 1 of the 2022 season. Over that stretch, Malone's high in kills was 23 against Air Force on September 15, 2023, while her career-high of 29 kills came on October 1 of her first year with the team in 2021.

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 18 matches Milwaukee has 146 blocks and are on a strong pace to continue their upward trend in 2023.

The Panthers are currently second in the Horizon League with their team block total at 167 and are also second in the league in solo blocks with 41 thus far. Lakyn Graves and Ari Miller lead Milwaukee with 12 solo blocks, while Czhen Beneby has nine on the year.

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 265 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 4.14 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
With the Panthers playing three matches at home this week against Green Bay, Northern Kentucky, and Wright State; Milwaukee heads back on the road for the next two weekends. The Panthers visit Oakland and Cleveland State next weekend, before a trip to Purdue For Wayne and IUPUI the third weekend of October.