MILWAUKEE – After a successful open to the Horizon League schedule with a pair of wins at Oakland this past weekend, Milwaukee will play three conference matches this week beginning with a road match at Green Bay on Tuesday before a pair at home against IU Indianapolis on Friday and Saturday.
 
All three matches will have live stats available, while Tuesday's match at Green Bay will be available on ESPN+. All links will be available on MKEPanthers.com.
   
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Tuesday, Oct. 1 | Milwaukee at Green Bay | Kress Center | Green Bay, Wis. | 6:00 pm
Friday, Oct. 4 | IU Indianapolis at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 6:00 pm
Saturday, Oct. 5 | IU Indianapolis at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 2:00 pm
 
GAME LINKS
ESPN+ (Green Bay Match): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Live Stats (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Tickets (Home Matches): mkepanthers.com/tickets

PROMOTIONS
Friday, Oct. 4 | Milwaukee vs. IU Indianapolis | Pink Out | T-Shirt Giveaway for First 100 Fans

QUICK HITS
» Coming off a 2-0 weekend to open Horizon League play, the Panthers return to Wisconsin for to take on the Green Bay Phoenix on the road on Oct. 1 before welcoming in the IU Indianapolis Jaguars to the Klotsche Center this weekend.
» The Panthers upended the Oakland Golden Grizzlies this past weekend, winning both matches in Michigan in five sets. The Panthers won the Friday match in a reverse sweep, while taking sets two, three, and five to win on Saturday.
» Madi Malone had a strong week for the Panthers, leading the team with 39 kills for an average of 3.90 per set. Malone added 21 digs and a block while helping the Panthers to a pair of wins.
» Milica Tomic had 54 assists while Josie Johnson had 53 on the week, Tomic also led all Panther servers with six service aces offensively.
» On the defensive side, Kara Erdmann had 26 digs in each contest against the Golden Grizzlies for a 52-dig weekend. Czhen Beneby and Lakyn Graves led Milwaukee with six blocks apiece, while Alexis Lewis had three on the week.
» Green Bay is 5-9 on the season and were 2-0 this weekend with a sweep at Youngstown State. After hosting the Panthers on Tuesday, the Phoenix will welcome Purdue Fort Wayne to the Kress Center this weekend.
» The Panthers have dropped their last four to Green Bay over the past two seasons, but still own a 50-25 all-time Division I record against Green Bay. In games played at Green Bay, Milwaukee is 21-11.
» IU Indianapolis dropped their first two Horizon League matches this weekend. The Jaguars were swept on Friday by the Raiders but took the first two sets on Saturday before suffering their own reverse sweep.
» In 15 all-time meetings, the Panthers are 11-4, including a 6-2 record at the Klotsche Center. MKE is currently on a three-match winning streak against IU Indianapolis.

LOOKING AT GREEN BAY
Milwaukee or Green Bay will suffer their first Horizon League loss on Tuesday with both teams coming off a pair of weekend wins at Oakland and Youngstown State, respectively. Only Wright State started off league play unblemished.

The Phoenix won 3-0 and 3-1 at YSU this weekend and were led by Cora Behnke with 28 kills and Katie Schulz with 26 kills. Calli Gentry had 71 assists, while Emma Best led the Phoenix with five aces on the pair of weekend wins.

Best also led Green Bay with 26 digs, while Abby Gardner added 22 of her own. Up front, the defensive effort saw Ellie Kurpeikis and Diane Pichelman with seven blocks apiece against the Penguins.

Now in year seven at Green Bay, Abbey Sutherland crossed over 100 wins with the Phoenix earlier this season and is closing in on 300 for her career with two previous stops before joining GB.

Green Bay is currently ninth of 10 teams in the Horizon League with just 80 blocks, but by comparison are in the top half of the league in covering the floor with 823 digs, just one behind Milwaukee among league teams.

LOOKING AT IU INDIANAPOLIS
The Jaguars come to town on Friday after visiting Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday looking for their first league win of 2024. The Jaguars lost both matches at home to open conference play this past weekend against Wright State, as the Raiders won 3-0 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday.

Under the direction of now second-year head coach Andrew Kroger, the Jaguars are already at six wins in 2024 after just a nine-win 2023 campaign. IU Indy is one of the top serving teams in the nation, leading the Horizon League and are 18th among Division I programs in aces per set with just shy of two at 1.95.

Grace Purichia leads the way at 0.58 aces per set as her 35 aces lead the Horizon League and places her 13th nationally in aces per set and sixth in total aces nationwide. The setter is also 16th nationally in total assists and sits second in the Horizon League with her 523 entering play this week.

Megan Ostrowski is tops in the league in hitting percentage at .382 through the team's first 15 matches. Ostrowski's 130 kills are second on the team to Elle Patterson, who is fourth in the Horizon with 181.

Three players are battling for the team lead in digs as Addie Evans (141) holds a one-dig lead over Purichia and Patterson with 140 each. IU Indy is towards the top of the league in blocking, led by Ostrowski with 42, Carly Doros with 39, and Kate White with 23.

UP NEXT
After a three-match week to begin October, Milwaukee heads back on the road next weekend to take on the Norse of Northern Kentucky in Highland Heights on Oct. 11-12.

Last season, Milwaukee won both matches against the Norse, who were selected to finish second in the league preseason poll.

LIVING ON THE EDGE
Dating back to last season, the Panthers have won nine consecutive five-set matches, with their last five-set loss coming to Villanova on Aug. 26, 2023. During the 2024 season, Milwaukee has gone 4-0 in five-set decisions.

The stretch of five-set wins is the second longest in program history, with the longest five-set match winning streak coming back during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. Milwaukee won the final eight five-set decisions in 1998, and first two in 1999.

FIRST-YEAR HIGHS AT OAKLAND
During the team's five-set win over Oakland on Sept. 28, a pair of freshmen recorded career-best marks as Gabby Wire tallied 13 kills, while setter Milica Tomic had a career-high 32 assists.

MILICA, THE ACE
Putting together a strong game from behind the service line against Oakland on Sept. 27, Milica Tomic had five service aces, which placed her in a tie for fourth in terms of single-match success in five-set decisions in Panther history.

Her five aces also place her in a tie for second among all Horizon League players for aces in a match in 2024, while she is currently the only player to record five aces in a conference match this season.

1,000 CAREER DIGS
During the team's win over Iowa, Milwaukee senior Madi Malone recorded the 1,000th dig of her career as she makes a push towards the top-10 in the program's Division I history in digs. Currently the 10th position is occupied by Sam Trawitzke, who finished her career following the 2011 season with 1,412 digs.

Malone had a career-high 319 digs in 2023, after 289 as a sophomore and 292 during her freshman campaign.

ERDMANN'S NEW HIGH
After setting a career-high with 31 digs against Western Illinois on Aug. 31 earlier this season, Kara Erdmann pushed right past that number with a 36-dig effort in the team's five-set win over Illinois State on Sept. 13.

The 36 digs tied the third highest dig total in a five-set match in program history. The mark equals Sarah Schrader's mark from 2023 and Myanna Ruiz, who had 36 in a five-setter in 2015. The program record for digs in a five-set match is 41 set by Becky Peters back in 2005.

Erdmann is currently fifth in the nation with 275 digs this season, which also places her 13th nationally in digs per set at 5.00 in 2024.

REVERSE SWEEP
On Sept. 13 against Illinois State, the Milwaukee volleyball team reverse swept the Redbirds with 25-20, 25-18, 15-7 set wins in the latter portion of the match. The Panthers recorded their second reverse sweep of the season on Sept. 27 at Oakland, winning 26-24, 25-19, and 15-10.

Milwaukee had two reverse sweeps in 2023 with one coming in non-conference play against Air Force on Sept. 15 and another later in the year against Purdue Fort Wayne in Horizon League action on Oct. 20 in Indiana.

The Panthers did not have any reverse sweeps in 2022 and had two back in 2021 against Western Michigan on Sept. 17, and one on Oct. 1 against Wright State.

LEADING THE TEAM
While many teams rely on one to two hitters to lead their offense, Milwaukee has had five different student-athletes lead the Panthers in kills through the team's season thus far.

Madi Malone has led the team in kills on seven occasions while Natalie Schmitz has led the team three times, Alexis Lewis and Bri Geurts have both led the team in kills on two occurrences this season. Rachel Scott has also led the team in kills once in 2024.

SERVING UP AN ACE
After collecting just three service aces in limited service action as a junior, Lakyn Graves has been the top servers for Milwaukee thus far with a team-best 20 service aces, which places her fourth in the Horizon League.

BUILDING BLOCKS
Milwaukee had a strong showing in the blocking game during two of their three matches of the 2024 Panther Invitational with the team tallying a season-high 14 against Illinois State on Sept. 13 and adding another 13 against Iowa two days later.

Against the Redbirds Lakyn Graves led the team with eight, followed by Alexis Lewis with six and Rachel Scott with four. Later in the weekend, Scott had a career-best with eight with Graves adding six and Bella Lipski getting in on the action with four blocks.

MALONE DOUBLING UP
With seven double-doubles on the season, Madi Malone now has 43 double-doubles for her career.

Malone has 1,267 kills and is now in sixth on the Milwaukee all-time kills list and is 28 behind the fifth position occupied by Julie Kolinske with 1,295.

Her 1,046 digs are also the most among active players, as are her 108 matches played, 403 sets played, and 68 service aces.

RECORD-SETTING CROWD
On August 30, the Panthers hosted their first-ever top-five opponent with the Stanford Cardinal visiting the Klotsche Center. With a total of 1,581 in attendance, including a student crowd of 968, the attendance figure broke the previous mark that had stood since the 2006 season, when Milwaukee and No. 11 Wisconsin drew a crowd of 1,121 in the final match of that season's Panther Invitational.

500 CAREER MATCHES
On Sunday, Sept. 1, Susie Johnson coached her 500th career match as the head coach of the Panthers becoming the first head coach in Milwaukee Division I history to reach that milestone. Tom Pleyte, who coached the team from 1978 and through Milwaukee's first three Division I seasons from 1990-92, is the program's all-time leader having served as head coach for 807 matches. Kathy Litzau, who followed Pleyte and preceded Johnson led Milwaukee 423 times.

Last season, Johnson earned her 272nd head coaching victory to become the department's all-time leader in wins in Division I history. She also recorded her 500th win as a Panther, earning 226 victories in 10 seasons as an assistant, while earning her 274th win as head coach against Purdue Fort Wayne on September 23.

NATIONAL RANKING
Milwaukee finished the 2023 regular season second in the nation with 1,608 kills, and after its postseason match against Cleveland State in the Horizon League First Round, added to its total to finish the year with 1,661, which was 22nd most in all of Division I in 2023 following the conclusion of the NCAA Championship.

The Panthers also finished 2023 with 1,546 assists, which was also 22nd in Division I, while the team finished 52nd in total blocks with 279.5. Both of those numbers were tops in the Horizon League. With a .255 team hitting percentage, Milwaukee led the Horizon League and finished the year 39th among 332 DI programs.

TOUGH SLATE ON TAP
Milwaukee is scheduled to play a tough slate of competition in 2024 including six teams that qualified for the 2023 NCAA Championship. The list includes Stanford (Aug. 30), Southern Methodist (Sept. 5), Weber State (Sept. 8), Wisconsin (Sept. 10), Wright State (Oct. 18-19), and Marquette (Oct. 22).

The 2024 American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Poll included Wisconsin (No. 3), Stanford (No. 5), Marquette (No. 24), as well as Southern Methodist and Loyola Marymount, who were receiving votes in the preseason tally.

PRESEASON POLL
After finishing the 2023 Horizon League schedule in a tie for second place with a 13-5 record, the Panthers were selected to finish third in the 2024 preseason poll, amassing 73 points and finishing just ahead of Green Bay with 71 points.

Wright State was selected to repeat as champions of the Horizon League with nine first-place votes and 99 points overall, while Northern Kentucky received the final first-place vote and recorded 85 points. Cleveland State took fifth with 63 points, while Oakland was projected to take the final playoff berth with 53 points.