MILWAUKEE – After traveling to Texas, the Milwaukee volleyball team will close out its six-match road trip at No. 8 Wisconsin at the UW Field House on Tuesday evening before returning home for the Panther Invitational this weekend.
 
Milwaukee and Wisconsin will meet for the first time since the NCAA Tournament in 2013 with the match available on BIG+. The Panthers come back home for the first time in two weeks to host the 2024 Panther Invitational as Milwaukee will host Illinois State on Friday, St. Thomas on Saturday, and Iowa on Sunday with video coverage of the Panther matches available on ESPN+ with live stats also available at the links on MKEPanthers.com.
  
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Tuesday, Sept. 10 | Milwaukee at No. 8 Wisconsin | UW Field House | Madison, Wis. | 7:00 pm
Friday, Sept. 13 | Illinois State at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 7:00 pm
Saturday, Sept. 14 | St. Thomas at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 4:00 pm
Sunday, Sept. 15 | Iowa at Milwaukee | Klotsche Center | Milwaukee, Wis. | 1:00 pm
 
GAME LINKS
BIG+ (Wisconsin Match): mkepanthers.com/coverage
ESPN+ (Home Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Live Stats (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Tickets (Home Matches): mkepanthers.com/tickets

QUICK HITS
» Milwaukee returns to the Badger State after a 1-2 trip to Texas beginning Wisconsin on Tuesday. The Panthers have not faced their in-state foe since the 2013 NCAA Tournament, when Wisconsin won in straight sets.
» Wisconsin was also in Texas and went 2-0 with victories over RV Texas Christian on Friday and No. 23 Baylor on Saturday to improve to 2-3 after losses to a trio of top-six teams to open the season.
» Milwaukee will host the Panther Invitational after a two-year hiatus. The Panthers last hosted the invitational in 2021, welcoming Illinois, UC Santa Barbara, and Valparaiso to the Klotsche Center.
» Milwaukee and Illinois State have split their six all-time decisions, last meeting in 2008. This year the Redbirds are 3-4 to start the year after going 2-1 this past weekend at the Billiken Invitational, including wins over Xavier and Army West Point.
» St. Thomas returns the favor with Milwaukee after the Panthers played in St. Thomas' multi-team event last year. The Tommies are 3-3 this year, including three-straight wins at home in their own tournament. St. Thomas plays Minnesota on Tuesday before heading to Milwaukee.
» Iowa is 4-1 to start the year and play in the annual Cy-Hawk series with in-state foe Iowa State on Wednesday. The Hawkeyes went 2-1 this past weekend in their own home tournament.

LOOKING AT WISCONSIN
After a challenging start, Wisconsin has righted the ship and are now 2-3 to start the season with wins coming against TCU and Baylor, both in five sets, in the most recent edition of the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge.

Head coach Kelly Sheffield has plenty of talent on his roster, including defending AVCA Player of the Year Sarah Franklin, who along with Anna Smrek and Carter Booth are all returning All-Americans. Franklin is currently 21st in the nation in kills per set at 4.55, while she is 43rd nationally in total points at 105.

A pair of freshmen have worked their way into the fold with Charlie Fuerbringer taking over as the primary setter with 218 assists through five matches, while Lola Schumacher took on the role of libero in the fourth set against TCU and looks to hold down the role for the next four years.

LOOKING AT ILLINOIS STATE
The Redbirds started the year with a 1-3 record but earned two wins over the weekend against Xavier and Army West Point. Third-year head coach Allie Matters looks to continue their winning ways as they head to Milwaukee for a trio of matches.

Wisconsin-native Aida Shadewald is the player to watch for the Redbirds offensively, with 100 kills through seven matches and scoring at least 11 in all seven. She also has three double-double performances this year against Central Michigan, Lindenwood, and Bellarmine.

The Redbirds are in the top-12 this season in team assists (329), team digs (428), and team kills (352). Setter Mekaila Aupiu is fifth nationally with 273 assists, while Sammi Bunch has 99 digs on the year.

LOOKING AT ST. THOMAS
Having faced off a year ago, St. Thomas is looking to avenge last season's 3-0 loss to the Panthers in early Sept. 2023. Wisconsin-native Ellie Gustafson led the Tommies in last year's match with seven kills as a freshman and is back for her sophomore season, only seeing time in three of their six matches in 2024.

Lauren Galvin leads this year's squad with 77 kills followed by Tezra Rudzitis with 68. Morgan Kealy is back as the team's primary setter from a season ago and leads the team with 205 in the early going after finishing with 668 in 2023 including 20 against the Panthers. Elle Voegele is the team's top receiver with 129 digs this year.

Longtime head coach Thanh Pham built the Tommies into a national powerhouse at the Division III level, winning a national championship in 2021 with a 40-1 record. Since making the unprecedented jump to Division I, Pham has led the Tommies to 17 wins including a Division I-high seven victories in 2023.

LOOKING AT IOWA
Playing in arguably the toughest Division I conference in terms of volleyball; the Hawkeyes hired Jim Barnes in 2022, after a successful stint at Tulane, and won 10 games in his opening season, followed by eight in 2023, and is well on his way to bypass that number with four wins this year.

Iowa is 54th in the nation in service aces with an average of 1.95 aces per set with 37 over their first 19 sets this year. Hannah Whittingstall and Michelle Urquhart have a team-best eight aces apiece, while the duo have 37 and 36 kills, respectively. The duo trail Claire Ammeraal with 44 and Dominique Phills with 39 in terms of kills on offense this year.

Joy Galles has a team-best 71 digs in 2024, with Whittingstall also among the defensive leaders with 23 blocks for an average of 1.44 blocks per set, good enough for 28th in the nation. Ammeraal also has a triple-double on the season with 11 kills, 34 assists, and 17 digs against Providence; she leads the team with 159 assists this year.

UP NEXT
After a busy week of four matches in six days, Milwaukee will play just a pair next week as part of the Chicago Cup. The Panthers will take on DePaul on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m., before returning to Chicago on Sept. 21 to dual with UIC.

Milwaukee is 13-3 against DePaul, including last season's sweep over the Blue Demons, while the Panthers are 44-22 against UIC all-time, having last met in 2021.

PANTHERS VS. RANKED
In 38 meetings all-time against top-25 opponents, the Panthers have wins at home against No. 9 Wisconsin (Sept. 1, 1999) and at home against No. 18 Iowa State (Aug. 29, 2008).

Milwaukee is currently scheduled to play two opponents in the top-10 of the AVCA poll, the last time the Panthers played a top-10 team was when they played No. 4 Florida on Sept. 21, 2013. The instance against Florida was the only time Milwaukee had played a top-five team before playing Stanford to open the season.

ERDMANN'S NEW HIGH
Entering her junior season with a career high of 28 digs from her freshman season against Cleveland State in postseason play, Kara Erdmann set a new career-best with 31 digs against Western Illinois during the team's four-set win over the Leathernecks.

Erdmann enters play this weekend 68th in Division I with her 95 digs on the season, while she is 110th in Division I in digs per set at 4.13.

MALONE DOUBLING UP
With three double-doubles on the season against Western Illinois, Northern Illinois, and Loyola Marymount, Malone now has 39 double-doubles for her career.

Malone has 1,166 kills and is now in ninth on the Milwaukee all-time kills list, and is currently 10 behind the eighth position occupied by Carmen Heilemann with 1,176.

Her 971 digs is also the most among active players, as are her 100 matches played, 371 sets played, and 64 service aces.

HITTING AROUND THE BLOCK
Milwaukee currently tops the Horizon League in opponent blocks having only been blocked 41 times this season through its first 23 sets for an average of 1.78 blocks against per set. By comparison, IU Indianapolis is last in the league getting blocked an average of 3.00 times per set.

SERVING UP AN ACE
After collecting just three service aces in limited action as a junior from the service line, Lakyn Graves has been the top server for Milwaukee thus far with a team-best 12 service aces. Her per set total of 0.52 places her second in the Horizon League and in the top 100 nationally.

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, September 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 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.