MILWAUKEE –The Milwaukee volleyball season gets underway on Friday, as the Panthers will make their way to Kalamazoo, Michigan to take part in the Western Michigan Tournament. The team will take on three opponents in Western Michigan, Northern Iowa, and Villanova over a 24-hour span to kick off the 51st season in Milwaukee volleyball history.
 
The Panthers are led by head coach Susie Johnson, who enters her 17th season at the helm of the program and her 27th season overall with the program. Over her first 26 years, Johnson has been a part of 490 Panther wins, including 264 as head coach.
 
Milwaukee enters the new year after a 10-win campaign in 2022, which included a challenging non-conference slate that included five opponents that appeared in the AVCA national rankings at the time of competition. Milwaukee qualified for the Horizon League Tournament as the fifth seed following a 9-9 record in league games and were projected to finish one slot higher in the Horizon League preseason poll in 2023 based on a core of talented returners coupled with a pair of newcomers to the squad.
 
Milwaukee will feature an experienced group, with 13 returners from the 2022 team, including a trio of honorees in last year's Horizon League postseason honors. The Panthers will feature four seniors competing in the final collegiate seasons with Kaley Blake, Mati Jakscht, Ari Miller and Sarah Schrader leading the way. Tatum Catalano, Bri Geurts, Lakyn Graves, and Madi Malone round out the upperclassmen. The team's largest class is its sophomore group with Czhen Beneby, Kara Erdmann, Josie Johnson, Natalie Schmitz, and Rachel Scott, while Kati Goba and Bella Lipski come from the Milwaukee area to represent their hometown team.
 
In addition to S. Johnson on the sideline, Bud K. Haidet Hall Milwaukee Athletics of Famer Lindsey Vanden Berg will be on the bench for her 17th season, alongside returning assistant coach Nikki Zimmerman in her third year with the Panthers. New to the staff in 2023 is Will Hall, who had previously served as an assistant under S. Johnson in 2012.

QUICK LINKS
Live Stats & Video (All Three Matches): https://mkepanthers.com/coverage
Follow Along (On X [Formerly Twitter]): @MKE_Volleyball

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – WESTERN MICHIGAN
Western Michigan finished 2022 with a 17-13 overall mark and a 9-9 record in the MAC. Among their non-conference results were wins over Green Bay and IUPUI, while dropping a four-set decision to Wright State.

Outside hitter Maggie King is the player to watch for the Broncos, as the graduate student led WMU in points, kills, and aces and was tied for fourth on the team with 27 blocks in 2022. King leads the top-eight point scorers returning to the Broncos this season, while senior libero Andelyn Simkins led last season's defensive effort as a junior with 536 digs. Setter Logan Case amassed 1,341 assists and joined King on the All-MAC First Team.

 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – NORTHERN IOWA
Northern Iowa put together a 27-8 mark overall with a 17-1 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. The team won the Missouri Valley Championship in a five-set match against Drake, before upsetting seventh-ranked Florida State in the opening round before falling to No. 2 Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship.
 
Senior Emily Holterhaus and junior Kira Fallert lead a dual threat on offense as the pair combined for 872 points, including 746 kills between them. Junior Tayler Alden ignited the offense with her 1,325 assists; while defensively the team graduated their libero as Fallert returns as the top receiver from 2022 with 301 digs. The team also graduated its leading duo in blocks and will need to replace 227 blocks from the pair at the net.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – VILLANOVA
Villanova was 10-20 in 2022 with a 6-12 mark in the Big East. The team failed to qualify for the Big East Tournament after a season that saw the Wildcats win just two matches in straight sets (Sept. 2 vs. Lafayette, and November 19 at Seton Hall).
 
Seniors Riley Homer and Kiera Booth each had 287 kills on the year, along with junior Rose Crist, who led the team with 292 are back to lead the offense. The Wildcats ran with two setters in 2022, with just Andrea Campos returning this season with a team-best 551 a year ago. Junior Elizabeth Feczko was the team's libero and returns her team-best 422 digs, while it was Booth to lead the block effort with 86 in 2022.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee has faced Western Michigan on 12 occasions in program history, with wins in five of the last six matchups dating back to 2014. The one loss was MKE's most recent appearance in Kalamazoo, a three-set loss in early 2018.
 
The Panthers will look for their first-ever win against Northern Iowa on Saturday, having been unable to beat the opposing Panthers in seven all-time meetings. However, the teams have not met since 2005, despite being one state away from each other. This will be their first meeting at a neutral site.
 
Milwaukee and Villanova will meet for the first time in program history on Saturday. Among the current members of the Big East Conference, the Panthers are 63-40 including 33 wins against former Horizon League member Butler, 14 wins against Marquette and 12 victories over DePaul.
 
SEASON OPENERS
Milwaukee has gone 4-6 over their last 10 season openers and are 7-9 in season-opening matches since Susie Johnson took over the program in 2007.
 
Since joining the NCAA Division I in the fall of 1990, Milwaukee has an opening-match record of 15-18.
 
RETURN OF THE PACK
Milwaukee welcomes back all 13 student-athletes from last year's squad, including three that earned postseason honors from the Horizon League. Ari Miller earned first team recognition from the conference, while Madi Malone was a second team honoree. Then-freshman Natalie Schmitz earned a spot on the league's All-Freshman Team.
 
Miller, Mati Jakscht, Kaley Blake and Sarah Schrader are this year's seniors, with Malone, Tatum Catalano, Bri Geurts, and Lakyn Graves comprise the junior class. Schmitz along with Josie Johnson, Czhen Beneby, Kara Erdmannk, and Rachel Scott round out the returning group of student-athletes to this year's squad.
 
WELCOME, NEWCOMERS
Joining this year's squad will be a pair of newcomers as Kati Goba of Mukwonago and Bella Lipski of Milwaukee join the black and gold in 2023.
 
Goba comes to Milwaukee from Wisconsin Lutheran High School where she helped the Vikings to a sectional championship as a senior and played club volleyball for the Milwaukee Sting.
 
Lipski was a three-year varsity player for Divine Savior Holy Angels High School and helped the team to a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state title her senior year and also played club ball for the Sting.
 
THE MILLENNIUM IS COMING
This season, Milwaukee will play its 1,000th match as a Division I program in its 34th season of competition at the highest collegiate level. The match is scheduled to take place on Friday, September 8, when the Panthers take on Western Illinois in Edwardsville, Illinois as part of the Cougar Classic.
 
Milwaukee played its first Division I match on August 31, 1990 against Wright State before taking on Western Illinois later in the day at a tournament hosted by the Leathernecks.
 
PRESEASON POLL
The Horizon League announced its preseason poll on Thursday afternoon, with the Milwaukee Panthers projected to finish fourth in the league as voted on by the coaches in the league.
 
The Panthers finished with 73 points just three points behind Green Bay, while Wright State was first in the poll with 99 points after accumulating nine of 10 first-place votes. Northern Kentucky received the final first place vote and finished with 85 points.
 
Cleveland State was fifth with 66 points, followed by Oakland (47 pts.), Purdue Fort Wayne (35 pts.), Youngstown State (33 pts.), and a tie for ninth between IUPUI and Robert Morris (18 points each).
 
HORIZON LEAGUE INDIVIDUAL TOP-10 OF 2022
Hitting Percent – Ari Miller, 1st (.372)
Points – Ari Miller, 5th (3.89 P/S)
Assists – Kaley Blake, 6th (5.44 A/S)
Kills – Ari Miller, 8th (3.20 K/S)
Blocks – Ari Miller, 8th (1.02 B/S)
 
HORIZON LEAGUE TEAM TOP-5 OF 2022
Hitting Percentage – 4th (.212)
Kills – 5th (12.53)
Blocks – 5th (1.99)
 
AVCA TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD
Back in July the Milwaukee volleyball team was recognized for its efforts in the classroom by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and were one of 201 Division I programs to earn academic recognition.
 
Teams are recognized for having a grade-point average of 3.30 or above on a 4.00 scale. The Panthers had a 3.67 combined team GPA in the fall 2022 term and a 3.71 this past spring semester.
 
FOURTH TIMES THE CHARM
Last season Milwaukee tied a program record with 12 four-set matches. The number equals the most since the 2011 season to tie the program mark for one season.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
After the weekend set in Michigan, the Panthers head West to the Twin Cities as the Panthers will take part in the Tommie Invitational hosted by St. Thomas. The Panthers will take on California Baptist and Montana State on September 1, before taking on host St. Thomas on September 2.
 
The Panthers open the home portion of their schedule on Monday, September 4, when they host Northwestern at 6:00 p.m. inside the Klotsche Center.
 
YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE
Thanks to ESPN+, Milwaukee volleyball will be readily available for viewers. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform. ESPN+, which will host the Horizon League women's soccer, men's soccer, and volleyball championships, offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content, and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) and cancel at any time.