MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Volleyball Team heads West to St. Paul, Minnesota for a trio of matches against programs that the Panthers have never met before beginning with California Baptist, before taking on Montana State and host St. Thomas (Minn.). Following the weekend in the Twin Cities, Milwaukee welcomes Northwestern to the Klotsche Center for just the second time in program history for its 2023 home opener.

WEEK AT A GLANCE
Friday, September 1 - Milwaukee vs. California Baptist | Schoenecker Arena | St. Paul, Minn. | 11:00 am
Friday, September 1 - Milwaukee vs. Montana State | Schoenecker Arena | St. Paul, Minn. | 4:00 pm
Saturday, September 2 - Milwaukee at St. Thomas (Minn.) | Schoenecker Arena | St. Paul, Minn. | 2:00 pm
Monday, September 4 - Milwaukee vs. Northwestern | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 6:00 pm

QUICK LINKS
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
California Baptist started the season at the Santa Clara Tournament in California, the Lancers went 1-2 with a win over California State Northridge in four sets, while dropping a five-set decision to Jacksonville and a four-set loss to host Santa Clara. Last season, CBU finished with a 12-14 overall mark and a 7-7 record in WAC matches.

California Baptists' offense can come at teams in multiple directions, with four players over the 20-kill plateau through the team's first three matches. Michalina Rola leads the team with 43 kills and is also tied for the team lead with nine aces. Graduate student Catherine Krieger has been a force off the bench for the Lancers with 30 kills in three matches. Junior Laura Walewska blocks up the middle of the net on the defensive side with 10 blocks on the young season, while four players have at least 34 digs on the year including a team-best 42 by Rola.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – MONTANA STATE
Coming off a 3-0 weekend to open the season, the Bobcats knocked off Oregon State, North Dakota, and Kennesaw State at home at the Bobcat Blackridge Invite. The team is off to a quick start following last season's 14-16 record with a 9-7 mark in the Big Sky Conference.

Following the team's unbeaten start to the year Kira Thompsen was named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week. In Montana State's matches the senior totaled 45 kills and hit .224 while also adding seven aces and seven blocks to her 55.5 points this season. Jourdain Kamps is second on the team with 39 kills, while Madilyn Siebler is not far off the pace with 35 kills for a team that has hit .228 on the year so far. Avery Turnage is the team's leader in blocks with 15 on the year including 10 against North Dakota, while Lauren Lindseth tallied 42 digs nearly twice as many as her closest teammate.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – ST. THOMAS
In just its third season in NCAA Division I, St. Thomas is one of the youngest athletic departments at the top level of NCAA and comes with a strong pedigree of success from its time at the NCAA Division III level. In its first two-plus seasons in Division I, the team has only tallied seven wins, while starting the 2023 campaign 0-3 with losses to UIC, Lindenwood, and Oakland.

Lauren Galvin has recorded double-figure kills in each of the Tommies' first three matches including a season-high 13 against Lindenwood with a team-high 34 kills. Emma Goerger is second on the team with 31 kills, while freshman setter Morgan Kealy leads the squad with five aces and 114 assists. Goerger is the team leader at the net with 11 blocks for the 6'4" middle blocker, while 5'6" defensive specialist Ella Voegele recorded 22 of her team-leading 52 digs in the season opener against UIC.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – NORTHWESTERN
After meeting in the spring season earlier this year, the Panthers will host the Northwestern Wildcats for its home opener on September 4. Northwestern opened its season with a 1-2 record in Hawai'i, with the one win coming over No. 13 San Diego in four sets, while dropping a five-setter to host Hawai'i and falling in straight sets to No. 9 Oregon.

Julia Sangiacomo has been off to a torrid start in her first season in Evanston following a successful four-year career at Santa Clara; Sangiacomo has a team-best 48 kills and a .161 hitting percentage for a team that has only hit .163 this season. Alexa Rousseau has 92 assists on the young season, while she along with Ellee Stinson lead Northwestern with three aces apiece. Leilani Dodson has 15 blocks including four solo blocks, with Stinson picking up a team-best 58 digs on the defensive side of the ball.

SERIES HISTORY
The trip to Minnesota this weekend will be filled with firsts for the Panthers as Milwaukee has never dueled with California Baptist, Montana State, nor St. Thomas. Following the weekend, the team will have played four consecutive matches against first-time opponents dating back to the team's matchup with Villanova on August 26.

Despite their proximity, Milwaukee and Northwestern are only meeting for the sixth time in program history, and just the second time ever in Milwaukee. The Wildcats own a 5-0 mark against the Panthers, with the most recent matchup coming on August 25, 2018, in Milwaukee, where the Panthers fell in four sets. The Panthers forced the Wildcats to five sets in their 22013 meeting, which came in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

LAST TIME OUT
Milwaukee traveled to Michigan to take part in the Western Michigan Tournament in Kalamazoo, the Panthers went 0-3 over the trio of contests but improved each time out culminating with a five-set marathon against Villanova on Saturday afternoon.

Four Panthers had 20 points or more to start the season as Ari Miller led the way with 47 points on 37 kills, with five aces and 10 blocks; Natalie Schmitz was second on the team with 37.5 points, followed by Madi Malone with 33.5, and Czhen Beneby with 20 points.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Following her performance at the Western Michigan Tournament, Ari Miller was selected as Milwaukee's representative on the All-Tournament Team. After hitting just .214 in the season opener against host Western Michigan, Miller hit .471 over the final two matches against Northern Iowa and Villanova.

Miller had 19 kills in the team's match against Villanova on Saturday, which was the most for the senior in a single match since the 2021 campaign when she wrapped up the year with 19 in the Horizon League Tournament against UIC.

BLOCK PARTY 2023
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 three matches Milwaukee has 28 blocks and are on a strong pace to continue their upward trend in 2023.

The Panthers are currently tied for third in the Horizon League with their 28 blocks but are tied for the top spot in the league with 12 solo blocks thus far. Czhen Beneby with five, and Lakyn Graves with four are both within the top four among Horizon League student-athletes in solo blocks.

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 secured a career-best 17 kills and tied her career-high with 42 attempts in the team's five-set match versus Villanova. Johnson also reached a career-high mark in the match against the Wildcats with 30 assists.

DOUBLE-QUARTER
In the team's match versus Villanova, Josie Johnson (30) and Kaley Blake (26) both accumulated more than 25 assists each for just the second time in their career together. The first instance came 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.

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.

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.

LOOKING AHEAD
Following the conclusion of the team's trip to Minnesota, and the home opener against Northwestern on Monday. The Panthers will be back on the road to take on Idaho and Western Illinois on September 8 before taking on host SIUE at the SIUE Tournament in Edwardsville, Illinois. With one of the longest travel stretches of the season behind them, the Panthers will be home for five of its next six matches beginning with DePaul on September 12.

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.