MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team opens postseason play on Friday, when the third-seeded Panthers take on the sixth-seeded Cleveland State Vikings in the quarterfinal round of the Horizon League Championship. With a win Milwaukee will advance to the semifinal round against Green Bay on Saturday, before a second win will put the Panthers in position to win a Horizon League Championship on Sunday against the winner from the opposite semifinal.

The Panthers finished the regular season with a 21-11 overall record and a 13-5 mark in league contests to clinch the third seed. The regular season crown and hosting duties for the Horizon League Championship went to top-seeded Wright State, while Green Bay also received a bye into the semifinals as the second seed. The other quarterfinal matchup on Friday will pit the four seed Northern Kentucky against the fifth seed Oakland. The winner of the three-day, six-team bracket will receive the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship.
 
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Friday, November 10 – No. 3 Milwaukee vs. No. 6 Cleveland State | CJ McLin Gymnasium | Dayton, Ohio | 2:00 pm
Saturday, November 11 – No. 2 Green Bay vs. No. 3 Milwaukee (with Milwaukee Win vs. Cleveland State) | CJ McLin Gymnasium | Dayton, Ohio | 5:00 pm
Sunday, November 12 – No. 3 Milwaukee vs. To Be Determined (with Milwaukee Win vs. Green Bay) | CJ McLin Gymnasium | Dayton, Ohio | 1:00 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): Horizon League Tournament Tickets

PARKING ADVISORY
Due to an event throughout the weekend at the Nutter Center (located next to CJ McLin Gymnasium) fans are encouraged to arrive early. A separate parking area will be available for the Horizon League Volleyball Championships, and spectators are encouraged to follow all signs closely when arriving to the facility.
 
FAST FACTS
» The Milwaukee volleyball team enters the Horizon League Tournament as the third seed and will take on sixth-seeded Cleveland State in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. Should the Panthers advance, Milwaukee will take on second-seeded Green Bay, who narrowly finished ahead of the Panthers with a five-set win over Cleveland State on Saturday afternoon.
» The Panthers earned the third seed as Milwaukee finished the regular season with a 13-5 record in the Horizon League, which includes three wins over the top-two teams in this season's preseason poll, including one against Wright State and a pair from Northern Kentucky. All six team's projected to reach the Horizon League postseason reached the final six.
» The last time that Milwaukee entered the Horizon League Championship as the third seed was in 2009. The Panthers took down Green Bay in the quarterfinals (3-2), knocked off second-seed Valparaiso (3-0), before winning the championship against top-seed Cleveland State (3-1) to win Milwaukee's eighth all-time NCAA Tournament berth.
» The Panthers have scuffled against Cleveland State this season, with a three-set loss against the Vikings on October 14, and a four-set defeat this past weekend at home on November 10.
» Milwaukee has had similar results against Green Bay this season, with a four-set loss at the Klotsche Center on October 3, while dropping a three-set decision to the Phoenix in Green Bay on October 31.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – CLEVELAND STATE
Milwaukee will see Cleveland State for the second time in the span of a week, as the Panthers played at home against the Vikings last Friday at the Klotsche Center. In the November 10 matchup, Cleveland State won in four sets despite Milwaukee scoring at least 20 points in each set. Earlier in the year, Milwaukee dropped a three-set decision to the Vikings in Cleveland on October 14.

The Vikings are led by All-League first team selection Liberty Torres, as the junior outside hitter had 339 kills on the season and had 45 blocks on the defensive side of the ball to lead the team with 366.5 points on the season. Junior Emma Walker was a second team selection as the libero led the Viking defensive effort with 579 digs and was just percentage points away from averaging five digs per set on the season. Laken Voss is another offensive weapon with 322 kills on the season, while setter Karly Klaer narrowly eclipsed the 1,000-assist plateau with 1,002 during the team's 29 matches this season.

Cleveland State was 16-13 overall with a 10-8 mark in league games including two wins against Milwaukee and one win against Green Bay as the lone two teams that the Vikings were able to beat that qualified for postseason play.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – GREEN BAY
Should the Panthers advance beyond the Vikings, a familiar foe awaits as the Panthers will battle in-state foe Green Bay for the third time this season, with this meeting taking place in Dayton, Ohio at McLin Gymnasium. The Panthers fell to the Phoenix in both meetings this season, as Green Bay won the opening meeting at the Klotsche Center on October 3 by a 4-1 score, Milwaukee followed that up with a loss at the Kress Center in Green Bay with a three-set loss as the Panthers struggled to get going offensively, despite hitting .237 on the match.

The Phoenix had a pair of student-athletes earn All-League First Team honors as Tiffany Paalman and Hannah Vanden Berg were selected to the top team in the Horizon League. No stranger to success, Vanden Berg was one of the top all-around players and brings arguably the best individual service game this season in the Horizon League as she led the Phoenix with 460 points this season including a team-high 375 kills. Paalman had 306 kills in 2023 and had 91 blocks and was two shy of the team lead in blocks.

Green Bay was 15-15 this season with a 13-5 mark in the Horizon League, with losses against Cleveland State, Oakland, Purdue Fort Wayne, and two against Wright State. The Phoenix earned a first-round bye and start the postseason in the semifinal round on Saturday in Dayton, Ohio.

SCOUTING THE REMAINING FIELD
Top-seeded Wright State had three players on the All-League First Team and two more on the second team, while Coach of the Year Travers Green leads Player of the Year Callie Martin, and Setter of the Year Katie Meyer.

Wright State won the conference regular season title with a 15-3 record, with losses at home to Oakland, along with road losses at Milwaukee at Northern Kentucky. The Raiders are on a seven-match winning streak and enter as winners of 10 of their last 11, as the battle tested top seed finished at 19-10 overall this season.

The four-five matchup will feature Northern Kentucky as the home team against Oakland as the lower seed. Northern Kentucky had two players earn first team honors with Joy Banks and Abby Kanakry, while Anna Burke was a second teamer and Ava Hoying was named to the All-Freshman Team. Oakland had the league's Defensive Player of the Year with libero Emily Wichmann, who was also the team's lone first teamer. Patti Cesarini was on the second team for the Golden Grizzlies while Gentry Brown was a member of the All-Freshman Team.

Northern Kentucky had a 12-6 record this season with all six of its losses to the teams that qualified for postseason play, the Norse have limped towards the finish line with a 3-3 record in their last six matches. Oakland was 11-7 this season but has only been swept by Milwaukee this season and split with Green Bay, Wright State, Northern Kentucky, while also splitting with non-postseason qualifiers Robert Morris and Youngstown State.

POSTSEASON ACCOLADES
For the fifth and final time, Ari Miller has been named a Horizon All-League First Team honoree becoming the first player in Horizon League history to earn the distinction. Beyond her five first-team all-league honors, she was Horizon League Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year in 2021. She was an All-Academic Team honoree for four times over her eligible four seasons, while she was also recognized by the Horizon League for nine occurrences during her career with the Panthers.

Also earning Horizon League First Team honors in 2023 was Madi Malone, who was a first team honoree for the second time in her career after earning honors as a freshman in 2021. Malone was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2021, while she was also a Horizon All-League second team member as a sophomore in 2022. Malone is a six-time Horizon League Player of the Week and led the Panthers with four selections during the 2023 season.

The last Panther to earn postseason honors was Sarah Schrader, who joined both Miller and Malone as members of the Horizon League All-Academic Team as announced by the conference on Tuesday afternoon.

IN THE NATION
Out of 332 Division I programs, Milwaukee is currently second in the nation with 1,608 kills, second in the country with 1,499 assists, and 11th in the country with 264.5 blocks on the season.  Milwaukee also holds a spot in the top-10 with 4,172 total attacking attempts heading into this week's action.

Individually, Ari Miller is 31st in the nation with 476.5 points, while Madi Malone is 44th in the same category with 459 points. Miller is also top-15 in the nation with 131 blocks, while she is 52nd in the country with a .371 hitting percentage.

Madi Malone is 30th in Division I with 411 kills this season, while she is also 32nd in total attacking attempts with 1,116. Malone, like Miller, is also in the top-50 in total points with 459 on the season thus far.

MILLER'S TOP-10 ASCENT
With 373 kills this season, Ari Miller now has 1,1553 for her career with Milwaukee, that total now places her second on the all-time Division I kills list in program history. Next on the list is the top-spot, which is obtainable during the Horizon League Tournament, as program leader Ericka Malterer finished her career in 1999 with 1,560 kills.

In addition to her kills mark, Miller now has a career-best 131 blocks in her final collegiate season to give her 447 career blocks. She is currently in third on the all-time blocks list and 27 more to reach the top-two on the all-time blocks list. Miller also moved into first all-time in both career matches with 134, and career sets played with 495.

WEEKLY HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS
Milwaukee has had a league-leading seven selections for Horizon League Player of the Week as Madi Malone earned her fourth selection this Monday. In addition to Malone's four 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 18 conference matches this season, Madi Malone has stepped it up with a team-best 253 kills, good enough for 3.78 kills per set and is hitting .295 on the year with a team-best 640 attacking attempts. Malone is second on the team with 21 service aces and is also second on the team with 174 digs during that span.

In 32 matches overall on the season, Malone has 3.34 kills per set with a team-best 411 kills on a team-high 1,116 attempts. Malone only had two service aces in non-conference play, finishing non-league play with 131 digs.

MILLENIUM CLUB
It was a historic night for a pair of Panther in the October 27 match against Youngstown State as Madi Malone reached 1,000 career kills, while Josie Johnson reached 1,000 career assists.

Malone joins Ari Miller as the two Panthers with more than 1,000 career kills, while Johnson joins Kaley Blake as the two Panthers with over 1,000 career assists.

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 32 matches Milwaukee has 274.5 blocks and are on a strong pace to continue their upward trend in 2023. The team's block total is the highest since the 2011 season, when the team recorded 272 total blocks that season. The single-season record is 379.5 blocks during the team's inaugural season in 1990.

The Panthers are tops in the Horizon League with their team block total at 274.5 and are also second in the league in solo blocks with 62 thus far. Ari Miller is second in the league with 20 solo blocks, while Lakyn Graves is fourth with 18 on the season. With 131 total blocks on the season individually, Ari Miller is currently 15th in all of NCAA Division I and is just 36 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.