MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Volleyball Team is back on the road to take part in the Cougar Classic hosted by the SIUE Cougars at First Community Arena. The Panthers are 3-4 on the season with wins in its last three matches, including Monday night's home-opening win over Northwestern.

WEEK AT A GLANCE
Friday, September 8 - Milwaukee vs. Idaho | First Community Arena | Edwardsville, Ill. | 10:00 am
Friday, September 8 - Milwaukee vs. Western Illinois | First Community Arena | Edwardsville, Ill. | 3:00 pm
Saturday, September 9 - Milwaukee at SIUE | First Community Arena | Edwardsville, Ill. | 1:00 pm

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

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – IDAHO
Idaho is off to a 1-5 start in 2023 with its lone win coming over UC Riverside on August 27. Last weekend, the Vandals lost all three of their matches against UC San Diego, host Gonzaga, and Air Force in Spokane, Washington.

The team is hitting just .139 on the season, while also totaling 211 kills, 196 assists, 32 aces, 263 digs, and 35 blocks. Zuzanna Wiexzorek leads the way with 40 kills, while Lacy Cox and Natalia Wielgus have been splitting duties on setting with Cox picking up 92 and Wielgus amassing 78. Aine Doty is the team's defensive leader with 80 digs, while Renata Lopez Morales leads the squad with 18 blocks.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – WESTERN ILLINOIS
Winless on 2023 so far, the Leathernecks are looking to get their first win of the year this weekend against Idaho, SIUE or Milwaukee. The team has taken single sets from both Murray State and Oakland, while coming closest to its first win of the year in its most recent match vs. Eastern Michigan, falling 3-2.

With 201 kills and a .141 hitting percentage, the team has struggled offensively while connecting on 20 aces on the year with 304 digs and 23 blocks.  Keyana Cruse has a team-leading 49 kills, while Maggie Craker has 154 assists to lead the way. On the defensive side of the ball Karli Wenzel has 78 digs, while Grave Kremer leads the team with 11 blocks on the young season.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – SIUE
With six matches under their belt in 2023 the Cougars of SIUE are 1-5 on the year, winning their opener in four sets against Eastern Michigan, before falling to Bradley, IUPUI, UIC, Western Michigan, and UAB.

With a .161 hitting percentage and 252 kills on the year, SIUE trails just Milwaukee in terms of the four offenses that will be on display at First Community Arena. Three Cougars have more than 40 kills on the season including Julia Treichel, with a team-best 49 as she is hitting .203 on the year. Alyse Drifka has a team-best 106 assists, while Corinna Jones has 78 helpers on the year. Abi Banitt has 76 digs to lead the defensive effort as Treichel has 55 of her own; up front it's been Priscilla Jones with 19, Chelsey Abel with 18 and Sydney Hummert with 16 blocks to lead a team that has totaled 53 on the 2023 season.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be Milwaukee's third all-time meeting with the Vandals, but first since September of 1994. The Panthers dropped both matches in three sets, with the 1992 matchup taking place in Idaho, while the 1994 edition took place in Madison, Wisconsin.

Milwaukee has faced Western Illinois on seven occasions entering action on Friday but have met the Leathernecks just once since August of 1996. When the teams met in Milwaukee in August of 2016, the Panthers rolled by Western Illinois in three sets, sweeping the match 25-20, 25-14, and 25-12.

Meeting for the first time since 2010, the Panthers look to remain unblemished against host SIUE in their third all-time meeting. The Panthers won the inaugural meeting in 2008, before sweeping the Cougars in 2010. This will be Milwaukee's first-ever trip to face the Cougars in Edwardsville.

THE MILLENNIUM IS HERE!
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.

LAST TIME OUT
For just the fourth time in program history, Milwaukee knocked off an opponent from the Big Ten Conference, winning a four-set match over the Northwestern Wildcats at home on Monday evening. The Panthers and Wildcats were even on offense with all three sets that Milwaukee won, coming by just three points or less in each set.

Natalie Schmitz had 17 kills to tie her career high for the third time this season, while the Panthers continued to block the ball well at the net with Ari Miller leading the way with six blocks. The Panthers also had five service aces on offense, while Josie Johnson and Kaley Blake continued to pass the ball well to the front line as the duo combined for 40 of Milwaukee's 47 assists.

The Panthers are on a three-match winning streak dating back to last weekend, when the team bounced Montana State in four sets, while disposing of host St. Thomas (Minn.) in their home tournament. The win over Northwestern made it three in a row to tie last year's longest winning streak as the Panthers won three in a row in mid-September against Horizon foes Purdue Fort Wayne, Youngstown State, and Robert Morris. The last time the team won four matches in a row came at the end of the regular season in 2021, with wins over Cleveland State, Oakland, Robert Morris and Youngstown State heading into the Horizon League Tournament as the top seed.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
On Tuesday, the Horizon League named Milwaukee's Ari Miller as Player of the Week. It was Miller's first selection of the season and seventh of her career, as she led the Panthers to a 3-1 week.

Through four matches Miller continued her impressive offensive output to start her final collegiate season with 49 kills and had a .412 hitting percentage on 97 swings. Miller currently has a .398 hitting percentage, which is 21 percentage points in the clear of the second closest student-athlete in the Horizon League. She is also second in the Horizon League with 86 kills through the team's first seven matches.

Miller also had a strong showing on defense at the net as she collected 18 blocks including two solo blocks. Her 28 blocks currently lead the Horizon League, as do her 26 assisted blocks.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS
For the second weekend in a row, Ari Miller was named to the All-Tournament Team at the three-match weekend set. Miller earned a spot on the All-Tournament team at both Western Michigan as well as St. Thomas (Minn.) following her strong all-around performances.

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 seven matches Milwaukee has 66 blocks and are on a strong pace to continue their upward trend in 2023.

The Panthers are currently leading the Horizon League with their 66 blocks and are also second in the league in solo blocks with 21 thus far. Czhen Beneby and Lakyn Graves each have six solo blocks apiece, which is currently tied for fourth in the Horizon League for 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 has secured a career-best 17 kills in three matches this season, including the team's wins over Villanova, Montana State, and Northwestern. Johnson also reached a career-high mark in the match against the Bobcats of Montana State with 31 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.

MILLER'S TOP-10 ASCENT
With 86 kills this season, Ari Miller now has 1,266 for her career with the black and gold, that total now places her fifth on the all-time Division I kills list in Milwaukee program history. Next on the list is Julie Kolinske in fourth place all-time as Kolinske finished her career with 1,295 career kills.

In addition to her kills mark, Miller now has 28 blocks in her final collegiate season to give her 344 career blocks. She is currently in eighth on the all-time blocks list and needs 34 more to reach seventh on the all-time blocks list.

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
After the weekend in Edwardsville, Illinois, the Panthers are back home for five of its next six matches including three straight beginning with DePaul (Tuesday), and Marquette (Thursday) from the Big East Conference, followed by the Air Force Academy on Friday. All three matches will begin 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.