MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee finished the regular season with a 15-3 Horizon League record and ended second in the Horizon League standings, earning a first-round bye into the semifinal round on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 5:00 p.m. (CT). The Panthers will have to await their opponent following Friday's quarterfinal matchups but will face either No. 3 Cleveland State, No. 4 Green Bay, or No. 5 Purdue Fort Wayne. The winners of both semifinal matches on Saturday will advance to the league championship on Sunday, with first serve set for 1:00 p.m. (CT).
  
All Horizon League Championship matches will be broadcast on ESPN+ while live stats of all five postseason games will also be available provided by host Wright State. Links for Milwaukee's matches will be available at the links on MKEPanthers.com.
   
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Saturday, Nov. 23 | No. 2 Milwaukee vs. To Be Determined | CJ McLin Gymnasium | Dayton, Ohio | 5:00 pm
Sunday, Nov. 24 (With Win on Saturday) | No. 2 Milwaukee vs. To Be Determined | CJ McLin Gymnasium | Dayton, Ohio | 1:00 pm
 
GAME LINKS
ESPN+ (All Postseason Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Live Stats (All Postseason Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Tickets (All Postseason Matches): Wright State Tickets
Championship Merchandise: Horizon League Amazon
Championship Central: Horizon League Landing Page
Wright State University: Fan Information
Horizon League: Fan Code of Conduct

QUICK HITS
» Postseason play begins for the Milwaukee volleyball team in the semifinal round of the 2024 Horizon League Volleyball Championship. The Panthers are set to play at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 24 against the highest remaining seed and will play either No. 3 Cleveland State, No. 4 Green Bay, or No. 5 Purdue Fort Wayne.
» Milwaukee in on the hunt for its first league Championship win since the 2013 season, when the team knocked off Cleveland State (3-1) and Valparaiso (3-1) en route to its 10th NCAA Tournament Appearance.
» This is the first time that Milwaukee enters postseason play as the second seed since 2019, when the team reached the championship round that season and fell to fourth-seeded Northern Kentucky. Milwaukee has also been the second seed in 2014, 2002, 2001, 2000, and 1997.
» On Thursday, the Horizon League announced its All-League selections with Kara Erdmann and Madi Malone earning First Team Honors while Natalie Schmitz was named to the Second Team. Milica Tomic was named to the All-Freshman Team.
» In addition to the All-League and All-Freshman honors handed out on Thursday, the Horizon League also announced that Kara Erdmann was named the Defensive Player of the Year. She is the third Panther to earn the honor, joining Lauren Dallenbach who won the inaugural DPOY Award in 2001, and Lauren Felsing, who earned the honor in 2009.
» Wrapping up the regular season, Milwaukee split its weekend at home with visiting Cleveland State. The Panthers reverse swept the Vikings on Friday night, before CSU came back to win the Saturday match in three sets.
» This past weekend, Milwaukee was led by Natalie Schmitz with 22 kills against Cleveland State, while Alexis Lewis has come on late in the season and had 17 kills against the Vikings over the eight sets played. Josie Johnson had 34 assists, while Milica Tomic had 35 and led the team with three aces.
» Defensively, Kara Erdmann had 55 digs over the pair of matches, while Lakyn Graves had a pair of strong performances with 14 blocks including five solo blocks over the weekend.
» With the five other team in the postseason, the Panthers have wins against them all including 1-1 marks against Wright State and Cleveland State. MKE took both matches against Green Bay, Purdue Fort Wayne, and IU Indy this season.
» All matches in this season's Horizon League Championship will be broadcast on ESPN+ from the CJ McLin Gymnasium on the Wright State University campus. The Raiders finished just one game ahead of Milwaukee in the standings to earn hosting duties.

LOOKING AT THE FIELD
Host Wright State earned the top seed with a 16-2 record, finishing just one game ahead of Milwaukee. Horizon League Coach of the Year Travers Green coached his squad to a 24-5 overall record this year, while his team was once again garnered with Lauren Yacobucci earning Setter of the Year honors. Yacobucci along with Sam Ott and Reilly Zegunis were All-Horizon First Team honorees, while Jenny Wessling earned second team honors.

Entering the field as the third seed, Cleveland State under the direction of Chuck Voss were tied for third in the field with Green Bay but won the three seed via tiebreaker. Voss' squad had an 11-7 in-league record and a 20-9 overall mark and were led by First Team selections Nia Hall, Liberty Torres and Emma Walker.

Heading into the weekend as the fourth seed are the Green Bay Phoenix, who also had an 11-7 league mark with a 14-16 overall record under Abbey Sutherland. Katie Schulz was Green Bay's lone first team honoree, while Calli Gentry was a second team selection.

The fifth seed is Purdue Fort Wayne, led by head coach Steve Florio, whose team had 10 wins against eight losses in league play with a 17-14 overall mark. Panna Ratkai leads the Mastodons after winning league Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year accolades in addition to her first team selection. Riley Rosneck was named Freshman of the Year and was also on the All-Freshman team.

Rounding out the field in 2024 is IU Indy, who surged late into the sixth seed with a 9-9 record after starting the Horizon League slate with an 0-5 record and finished the year at 9-4 including a pair of wins over Northern Kentucky, to knock the Norse out of playoff contention. Head Coach Andrew Kroger led the Jags to a 15-16 overall mark, as his team was paced by a pair of first team selections with Morgan Ostrowski and Grace Purichia.

UP NEXT
After the weekend at the Horizon League Championship in Dayton, Ohio, the winning team will move on to the 2024 Division I NCAA Championship. The field of 64 will be announced on ESPN on Sunday, December 1 at 5:00 p.m. (CT).

First and second round play takes place between December 5-7, while the regional semifinals and finals will be between December 12-15. The national semifinals and championship will take place on December 19 and 22 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

POSTSEASON HISTORY
Milwaukee enters this weekend's Horizon League Championship as the second seed, the seventh time in program history they have reached in that position and first since 2019. The Panthers have reached the championship round in each of their last four appearances as the two seed and won the title in both 2001 and 2002.

The Panthers must prepare for three potential opponents in Saturday's semifinal, including Cleveland State, Green Bay, and Purdue Fort Wayne.

Milwaukee is 7-3 all-time in postseason matches against Cleveland State dating back to their first meeting in 2000, while the Panthers are 5-1 in six all-time postseason clashes with Green Bay dating back to 1997. Milwaukee has never met Purdue Fort Wayne in the postseason.

Should Milwaukee advance to the Horizon League Championship on Nov. 24, the Panthers are 2-0 in all-time postseason meetings with this year's top seed, Wright State, and have never met IU Indy in postseason play, should the Jaguars make it through two rounds to Sunday.

Last season, Milwaukee was the three seed and were eliminated by Cleveland State, who also eliminated the Panthers in 2022, both times in the quarterfinal round.

Milwaukee's last win in a postseason match was in 2019, which was the last time the Panthers were the two seed as MKE eliminated Green Bay in four sets before falling to Northern Kentucky in the championship that season.

POSTSEASON AWARDS
The Horizon League revealed its postseason awards on Nov. 21 with Kara Erdmann selected as the league's Defensive Player of the Year, while she alongside Madi Malone earned All-League First Team honors. Natalie Schmitz earns a spot on the All-League Second Team, while Milica Tomic was picked for the All-Freshman Team.

Erdmann's honor is just the third time in program history that a Panther has won Defensive Player of the Year. Laura Dallenbach won the Horizon League's first ever Defensive Player of the Year award when issued in 2001, while Lauren Felsing was selected for the honor in 2009.

Malone's selection to the first team places her in elite company in Panther program history as she becomes just the fifth player to earn at least three All-League First Team honors along with Chrissy Schurla (1999, 2000, 2001), Rachel Neuberger (2011, 2012, 2013), Carmen Heilemann (2018, 2019, 2021), and Ari Miller (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).

Malone also becomes just the fourth player to earn All-League honors in at least four seasons, regardless of team. She joins Ari Miller (First Team: 2019-23), Lindsey Spoden (First Team: 2002-03; Second Team: 2000-01), and Ericka Malterer (First Team: 1998-99; Second Team: 1996-97). Spoden is now Lindsey Vanden Berg and is Milwaukee's Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator.

This is the first career honor on the All-League teams for both Erdmann and Schmitz, while Tomic is the first Panther on the All-Freshman team since Schmitz was selected in 2022.

ERDMANN'S SINGLE-SEASON RECORD
With 685 digs entering postseason play, Kara Erdmann now owns the single-season mark by surpassing Lauren Felsing, who had 645 digs during the 2008 season. Erdmann is averaging 5.76 digs per set, which will ultimately be the single-season mark upon the conclusion of the season. The current mark is 5.06 set by Jess Grabowski in 2019.

She ranks second in all of Division I in 2024 with 685 total digs, and second in digs per set at 5.76 entering play this week.

ERDMANN'S SINGLE-MATCH PROGRAM RECORD
Kara Erdmann has set and re-set her career-best in digs on four separate occasions this season, most recently recording 47 digs on Oct. 19 at home against Wright State. In reaching that mark, Erdmann set the Milwaukee match record for digs breaking the previous mark of 41 set by Becky Peters in 2005.

The record also broke the Horizon League mark of 45 set back during the 1989 season when Jessica Taylor of Butler had 45 against UIC on Sept. 12 of that season.

The 47-dig performance is also the highest dig total of any student-athlete at the Division I level in 2024, surpassing the 45 digs by Jada Willis of Drake against Bradley on Oct. 18, and the 45 of Peyton DeJardin of California against Syracuse on Oct. 12.

THAT'S A LOT OF SWINGS
With her 29 attacking attempts in the team's Oct. 26 win over Youngstown State, Madi Malone reached 3,945 attempts for her career. The number breaks the previous career mark of attacking attempts set by Laura Dallenbach, who finished her four years (1998-2001) with 3,932 career attempts. Malone has since become the first player with over 4,000 attempts in her career and is currently at 4,214.

Against Youngstown State on Oct. 25-26, Malone also crossed into the top-10 all-time in sets played. She now has appeared in 467 career sets played, which is now third on the all-time list. The program's all-time leader is Ari Miller, who ended her career with 499 career sets played.

MALONE REACHES 1,000 DIGS, MOVES INTO TOP-10 ALL-TIME
During the team's win over Iowa on Sept. 15, Madi Malone recorded the 1,000th dig of her career as she makes a push towards a spot in the top-10 throughout league play, eventually breaking into the top 10 with her 17 digs on Nov. 15 against Cleveland State.

Malone now has 1,221 digs and is 32 away from tying ninth place. The program's all-time leader is Lauren Felsing, who finished her career with 1,929.

MALONE DOUBLING UP
With 15 double-doubles on the season, Madi Malone now has 51 double-doubles for her career.

Malone has 1,483 kills and is now in fourth on the Milwaukee all-time kills list and is 51 behind the third position occupied by Lauren Dallenbach with 1,534.

JOHNSON HITS 1,500 ASSISTS, CLIMBING ALL-TIME LIST
With her career match-best 33 assists at Northern Kentucky on Oct. 11, Josie Johnson became just the 11th player in Milwaukee program history to reach 1,500 career assists in her two-plus seasons with the Panthers.

Johnson now has 1,784 with her combined 43 against Cleveland State this past weekend and is now 10th in program history in assists.

Johnson would need to surpass the 2,000 assist mark to break into the top nine, currently occupied by Leanne Felsing with 2,264. The all-time program record is 5,276 set by Katie Schneider during her career from 1996-99.

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. Tomic now has 28 service aces, which places her 8th in the Freshman Record Book for aces in a season.

GRAVES' STRONG SERVICE SEASON
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 30 service aces, which places her 17th in the Horizon League.

REVERSE SWEEP
Milwaukee has had four reverse sweeps on the season beginning with Illinois State on Sept. 13. In league play, Milwaukee completed the reverse sweep against Oakland on Sept. 27 Wright State on Oct. 18 and followed that up with a fourth against Cleveland State on Nov. 15.

LIVING ON THE EDGE
Dating back to last season, the Panthers had won 11 consecutive five-set matches, with their last five-set loss coming to Villanova on Aug. 26, 2023. During the 2024 season, Milwaukee has gone 6-0 in five-set decisions before falling to Wright State on Oct. 19, the Panthers have since gone 1-0 restarting a new streak against Robert Morris on Nov. 8.

The stretch of five-set wins is now the longest in program history, with the previous mark of 10 coming back during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In a single season, Milwaukee won eight consecutive five-set decisions in 1998 for the single-season mark.

COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH
In the team's Oct. 18 win over Wright State, Natalie Schmitz ended the match with 12 kills, including a team-best six kills in the deciding fifth set. All 12 of Schmitz' kills came in the three sets that the Panthers had won during the reverse sweep over the Raiders.

With her six fifth-set kills, she tied Madi Malone for most kills in a fifth set this season, who had a half dozen against Northern Kentucky on Oct. 11. Thus far on the season, Schmitz has led Milwaukee five times in the fifth set with three against both NIU on Sept. 1 and Illinois State on Sept. 13. She also had a team-high two kills against Oakland on Oct. 27 in the fifth set, while adding four more kills to lead the way in the fifth set against Cleveland State on Nov.15.

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 18 occasions while Natalie Schmitz has led the team nine times, Alexis Lewis has led MKE three times and Bri Geurts has led the team on two occurrences this season. Rachel Scott has also led the team in kills once in 2024.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK IN 2024
With 46 kills, including a career-high 19 on Nov. 1 against Purdue Fort Wayne, Natalie Schmitz earned Horizon League Player of the Week honors on Nov. 4. Schmitz had an impressive .356 hitting percentage with just nine errors on a team-best 104 swings over Milwaukee's three matches.

Following her record-setting performance with 47 digs against Wright State on Oct. 19, coupled with her 30 dig performance the night Kara Erdmann was named Horizon League Player of the Week on Oct. 21.

300 HEAD COACHING WINS
After reaching several coaching milestones in 2023, Susie Johnson accomplished yet another during the team's win over Green Bay on Oct. 29 as she earned the 300th win as head coach of the Panthers.

Since joining the staff as an assistant, Johnson has been a part of 531 wins with Milwaukee. While her head coaching ledger now has 325 wins on it, which includes her 20 wins as the head coach of Parkside in 1993 and 1994.

600 PROGRAM WINS
With the team's win over Youngstown State Oct. 26, Milwaukee recorded its 600th victory while playing at the Division I level.

BACK-TO-BACK BELOW 10
Against IU Indy on Oct. 4 and Oct. 5, the Panthers had fewer than 10 attacking errors, with six on Friday and five on Saturday.

It was the first time that Milwaukee had fewer than 10 attacking errors in back-to-back matches since 2021. On Nov. 11 at Robert Morris the Panthers had nine hitting errors and followed that up with just seven at Youngstown State in the regular season finale on Nov. 13.

Dating back to the beginning of rally scoring in 2001, Milwaukee has only accomplished the feat twice (2021 & 2024). In 2001, rally scoring was played until the winning team had 30 points, before it was reduced to 25 in 2008.

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.