INDIANAPOLIS – On Thursday, the Horizon League announced its award winners and all-league teams for the 2023 volleyball season. The Panthers had multiple first-team selections as both Madi Malone and Ari Miller earned spots on the Horizon League's top team.
 
Malone and Miller combined for a 1-2 punch in the Panther offense that helped the team to 21 wins this season with a 13-5 mark in Horizon League play as the team finished third in the Horizon League standings in advance of the first round of the league championship that is slated to begin on Friday.
 
For Malone this is her second career First-Team selection after earning the honor as a freshman in 2021 coupled with her Freshman of the Year accolades. Malone was a member of the second team in 2022.
 
Meanwhile, Miller adds more hardware to her decorated career with her fifth all-time First Team selection dating back to her freshman season in 2019, becoming the first player in Horizon League history to earn five first team honors. Miller was Horizon League Player of the Year in 2021, where she was also the Offensive Player of the Year that season in addition to her Freshman of the Year honors in 2019.
 
This season, Malone finished second in the league with 411 kills in the team's 123 regular season sets for an average of 3.34 kills per set, which was third highest in the league. Malone was also in rare company as she was an outside hitter among the league's leader in digs with 305 this season.
 
Malone finished sixth in the Horizon with 3.73 points per set, as she ended the year with 459 points, which was the fourth highest point total in the league.
 
Her 411 kills is a career high as his her .256 hitting percentage this season. She also has a career high in assists this year with 25, while her 405 digs and 47 blocks this season are also career bests.
 
In 2023, Miller was the conference leader in several statistical categories with a Horizon League-best .371 hitting percentage, while she also led the league in both assisted blocks with 111 and total blocks with 131 for a league-best 1.07 blocks per set during the season.
 
Miller also had 373 kills this season, averaging 3.03 kills per set, her kill total was the fourth-most in the conference, while she was also second in the league in solo blocks with 20 this year.
 
This year, Miller also had career highs with 28 service aces, 15 assists, and 95 digs, as her 476.5 points this year are also a career-best.