MILWAUKEE – Susie Johnson has announced the 2024 schedule for the Milwaukee volleyball team, featuring six teams that qualified for the 2023 NCAA Tournament, including two opponents that reached the Elite Eight.
 
The Panthers will begin the season at home on August 30 when they welcome Stanford to the Klotsche Center. The Cardinal finished the 2023 ranked fifth in the final AVCA Coaches Poll, and just missed a spot in the Final Four of last year's tournament as they fell to fifth-ranked Texas in the regional finals. Stanford was ranked within the top-five all season in 2023 and will be the first ranked program to play in the Klotsche Center since Iowa State (ranked 18th) played the Panthers in 2008. The Panthers upset the Cyclones in five sets that season.
 
Milwaukee will head on the road the next day and will take on Western Illinois, who it defeated a season ago, with the game taking place at Northern Illinois on August 31. The Panthers will take on the host Huskies on September 1 in their first meeting since 2019.
 
The following weekend the Panthers head to Texas to take on a pair of NCAA-qualifying teams, beginning with host Southern Methodist on September 5. Last year, SMU reached the second round of the tournament and received votes in the national poll during the season. This will be Milwaukee's first meeting with SMU since 2004.
 
On September 6, the Panthers will meet Weber State for the first time in program history, another 20-win team from a season ago that reached the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Loyola Marymount is the final team Milwaukee will play in Texas on September 7; the Lions narrowly missed on a bid to the NCAA field but received top 25 votes during the regular season in 2023.
 
The schedule does not let up as the Panthers return to their home state and will visit the UW Field House to take on the Wisconsin Badgers on September 10. The Badgers won 30 matches and reached the Final Four a season ago and were the top-ranked program in the AVCA poll for eight consecutive weeks and never fell outside of the top-five all year. This will be the first meeting of in-state foes since they met in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
 
After the challenging road trip, Milwaukee returns home for the return of the Panther Invitational, which will include matches with Illinois State (Sept. 13), St. Thomas (Sept. 14), and Iowa (Sept. 15). With the Hawkeyes' visit to the Klotsche Center, it marks the second-straight season a Big Ten team will visit the K after the Panthers knocked off Northwestern in four sets in last year's home opener.
 
A pair of trips to the Windy City will follow as the Black and Gold visit DePaul on September 19, and UIC on September 21 with the match against the Flames taking place at DePaul.
 
Conference play will feature a brand-new look as the Horizon League has moved away from 'travel partners' and moved to a back-to-back model, featuring one institution visiting another over a two-day span. League play will begin on the weekend of September 27-28, as the Panthers visit Oakland.
 
Milwaukee's lone midweek conference matches will take place against Green Bay, those matches will be split with the Panthers visiting the Kress Center on October 1. The Phoenix will make the return visit to the Klotsche Center on October 29.
 
The team begins Horizon League play at home against IU Indianapolis (formerly IUPUI) on October 4-5 before the Panthers head back on the road to visit Northern Kentucky on October 11-12.
 
MKE will host defending Horizon League champion Wright State at the 'K' on October 18-19, last season the two teams split their matchups before the Raiders won the league's bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The final team on Milwaukee's schedule that reached the NCAA Tournament will be Marquette, as the two sides will meet on October 22 at the Al McGuire Center. The Panthers' in-city rival earned a six seed in last year's field and reached as high as No. 12 in the AVCA Poll.
 
Milwaukee will host Youngstown State (Oct. 25-26) followed by the home Green Bay match (Oct. 29). The next two series will be on the road with Purdue Fort Wayne (Nov. 1-2), and Robert Morris (Nov. 8-9), before the regular season closes at home when Cleveland State makes their way to Milwaukee on November 15-16.
 
The Horizon League Championship will feature the top-six teams from the regular season in a single-elimination bracket over three days at the site of the top seed. The winner of the tournament will receive the league's bid to the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Championship.
 
*Note: All dates/times/opponents are subject to change and any schedule adjustments made before the start of the season will be communicated to the public via the MKE Athletics website and social media channels.