MILWAUKEE – With the Panther Invitational in the rear-view mirror, Milwaukee will shift its sights to DePaul and UIC for a weekend in the Windy City as part of the 2024 'Chicago Cup'.
 
Milwaukee will take on host DePaul on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m., with both video coverage on FloSports and live stats available for the match at the links at MKEPanthers.com. The Panthers will then take on long-time foe UIC on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., with only live stats available of the match. Both contests will be at McGrath-Phillips Arena on the DePaul University campus.
  
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Thursday, Sept. 19 | Milwaukee at DePaul | McGrath-Phillips Arena | Chicago, Ill. | 7:00 pm
Saturday, Sept. 21 | Milwaukee vs. UIC | McGrath-Phillips Arena | Chicago, Ill. | 3:00 pm
 
GAME LINKS
FloSports (Video vs. DePaul): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Live Stats (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Tickets (Home Matches): mkepanthers.com/tickets

QUICK HITS
» Milwaukee hosted the Panther Invitational this past weekend and went 2-1 overall, with wins on Friday vs. Illinois State and Sunday vs. Iowa.
» The Panther win over Illinois State came as a reverse sweep after dropping the initial two sets to the Redbirds. Last season Milwaukee had two reverse sweeps, including a non-conference win at home vs. Air Force, and a road league matchup at Purdue Fort Wayne.
» Milwaukee makes the quick trip down Interstate 94 to take part in this weekend's 'Chicago Cup' hosted by DePaul. The Panthers will open the event against host DePaul on Thursday evening at 7 p.m., while meeting UIC on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
» This will be the second-straight season that Milwaukee and DePaul will meet, last year the Panthers blanked the Blue Demons in three sets at the Klotsche Center. MKE is 13-3 in all-time meetings, including wins in eight consecutive matches. Over that span the Panthers have dropped just two sets, dating back to 2002.
» Longtime league foe UIC will be back on the schedule for Milwaukee for the first time since the Flames were in the Horizon League in 2021. UIC eliminated the Panthers in the Horizon League postseason with a reverse sweep in the semifinals. This is the first time the Panthers and Flames will meet in the 'Windy City' since 2019, a 3-0 Panther win on Sept. 28 that season.
» DePaul enters the 'Chicago Cup' with a 6-3 mark, which includes a 3-0 win over St. Thomas, who the Panthers had just lost to on Sept. 14 at home. The Blue Demons have one other common opponent as both Milwaukee and DePaul will play at Marquette in mid-October.
» UIC is 7-1 to start the year and takes on Chicago State before heading into the 'Chicago Cup' the Flames knocked off both Purdue Fort Wayne (3-1) and Western Illinois (3-1) earlier this season and will take on Illinois State in league play in late October. Milwaukee also defeated Western Illinois in four sets on Aug. 31.

LOOKING AT DEPAUL
Entering the 'Chicago Cup' at 6-3, the Blue Demons have secured wins over Southern Indiana, St. Thomas, Bradley, Tulane, Portland State, and Brown.
 
Marie Zidek is in her sixth season as the head coach and has totaled 86 wins over that time against 117 losses. The team finished 2023 at 18-15 including a loss to Milwaukee in three sets on Sept. 12 of last season.
 
DePaul has been one of the top digging teams in the nation, ranked 21st in Division I in team digs with 603 on the season, which leads the Big East Conference. Rachel Krasowski leads the team and is 30th among individuals with 163 digs on the year. Jill Pressly has been the Blue Demons' top attacker at 4.08 kills per set, which is second in the league and 48th nationally.
 
LOOKING AT UIC
At 7-2, UIC is off to its best start since the COVID season of 2020-21, when the Flames started 11-1 to begin that season, when the team was still a member of the Horizon League. The only loss in that stretch came at the hands on Milwaukee on Feb. 22 of that season.
 
Justin Ingram leads the UIC squad that is one of the top attacking teams in the nation, ranked 18th in total kills and 19th in total assists. Zahria Woodard leads the team at 2.84 kills per set, while she is ranked 11th nationally in hitting percentage at .472.
 
Defensively Woodard is also among the leaders as she is 44th in the nation in total blocks (44) and is 127th nationally in blocks per set at 1.14. Hannah Howard is the team's top receiver with 121 digs good enough for 13th best in the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
UP NEXT
Horizon League play begins following the matchup against UIC on Saturday as Milwaukee will head to Oakland for a pair of league battles on Sept. 27 and Sept. 28. Last season the Panthers swept the Golden Grizzlies both in Michigan on October 13 and again at home in the regular season finale on Nov. 11.
 
1,000 CAREER DIGS
During Sunday'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 186 digs this season, which also places her 18th nationally in digs per set at 4.89 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.
 
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 four different student-athletes lead the Panthers in kills through the team's season thus far.
 
Madi Malone has led the team in kills on three occasions as has Natalie Schmitz, Alexis Lewis and Bri Geurts have both led the team in kills on two occurrences this season.
 
SERVING UP AN ACE
After collecting just three service aces in limited service action as a junior, Lakyn Graves has been the top server for Milwaukee thus far with a team-best 17 service aces, which are second most in the Horizon League. Her per set total of 0.45 places her third in the league and in the top 130 nationally.
 
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 five double-doubles on the season, Madi Malone now has 41 double-doubles for her career.
 
Malone has 1,207 kills and is now in eighth on the Milwaukee all-time kills list, and is six behind the seventh position occupied by Kerri Schuh with 1,213.
 
Her 1,007 digs is also the most among active players, as are her 104 matches played, 386 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, 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 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.