MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee volleyball looks to extend its five-match winning streak and stay hot in Horizon League play as the regular season closes in Cleveland with a pair of matches against the Cleveland State Vikings.
 
Friday's match will begin at 5:00 p.m. (CT), while Saturday's regular season finale will begin at 1:00 p.m. (CT). Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN+, while live stats will be available as well, with links for both available at the links found on MKEPanthers.com.

WEEK AT A GLANCE & GAME LINKS
Friday, Nov. 14 | Milwaukee at Cleveland State | Woodling Gymnasium | Cleveland, Ohio | 5:00 p.m. (CT) | ESPN+ / Live Stats
Saturday, Nov. 15 | Milwaukee at Cleveland State | Woodling Gymnasium | Cleveland, Ohio | 1:00 p.m. (CT) | ESPN+ / Live Stats

FIRST SERVE
» It's the final week of the regular season and there are two matches left for each team across the Horizon League. Milwaukee will head to Cleveland State for a pair of matches at Woodling Gymnasium beginning on Friday at 5:00 p.m. (CT) and wrapping up on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. (CT).
» In other matchups this weekend, Purdue Fort Wayne visits Youngstown State, Green Bay heads to Robert Morris, Northern Kentucky plays at IU Indy, and Oakland will head to Wright State.
» Seven teams are vying for the six playoff spots with Oakland and Green Bay still alive for the sixth berth. Robert Morris, Cleveland State, and Purdue Fort Wayne have been eliminated from contention.
» Milwaukee is riding a five-match winning streak entering play on Friday after taking both this past weekend from Robert Morris. The Panthers won a five-set thriller on Friday, coming back from a 10-5 deficit in the fifth set, before a three-set sweep over the Colonials on Saturday.
» Cleveland State lost both matches last weekend at Youngstown State, the Vikings fell to the Penguins in straight sets on Friday but fought back and took the third and fourth sets before dropping a five-setter to YSU on Saturday.
» The two longest tenured coaches in the league square off this weekend as Susie Johnson and Chuck Voss boast a combined 753 wins at their respective institutions.
» Milwaukee is 50-27 all-time against Cleveland State, but its been the Vikings to get the last laugh of late, eliminating Milwaukee from postseason play each of the last three seasons. CSU is 7-1 against Milwaukee over their last eight matches. The Vikings are 16-7 over their last 23 matches against Milwaukee dating back to the 2014 season.
» This will be the 27th appearance for Milwaukee in the Horizon League postseason dating back to the Panthers joining the league for the fall of 1994. Only Cleveland State has clinched more playoff berths with 28.

LOOKING AT CLEVELAND STATE
Cleveland State has lost four in a row heading into the final week of the season, swept each of the past two weekends by IU Indy and Youngstown State. The incredibly young Vikings squad features just five upperclassmen versus 10 underclassmen, including six true freshmen.

Senior Laken Voss leads the offense with 270 kills while freshman Bryn VanVleet has been developing into the next top hitter for Cleveland State and will be a thorn in the side of teams for the next three seasons. Redshirt freshman Isabella Gibbons and true freshman Allison Salazar have nearly 800 combined assists on the year, while sophomore Vayda Delventhal hold the team lead with 24 service aces.

Delventhal also leads CSU with 420 digs on the year, which is fifth best in the Horizon League. Junior JeriLynn Koehler leads the Vikings with 71 blocks with sophomore Julia Jozefoz is second on the team with 57 blocks after a 50-block freshman season.

The Vikings got off to a slow start this season winning just two sets over their first eight matches and could not recover and find their footing. In Horizon League play, the Vikings have won at least one set from all but two opponents, swept twice by both Green Bay and IU Indy.

UP NEXT
The Horizon League Championship is next on the docket for Milwaukee; the next opponent will be determined for the Panthers following this weekend. However, the regular season title has been clinched by Northern Kentucky, with the postseason tournament taking place at Regents Hall.

ALL-TIME IN DIGS
1. Lauren Felsing (2006-09): 1,929
...
4. Myanna Ruiz (2013-16): 1,700
5. Kara Erdmann (2022-present): 1,634
6. Laura Dallenbach (1998-01): 1,600

ALL-TIME IN ASSISTS
1. Katie Schneider (1996-99): 5,276
...
8. Kari Naber (1994-97): 2,308
9. Josie Johnson (2022-present): 2,296
10. Leane Felsing (2004-07): 2,264

In the team's match against Arizona State, Josie Johnson became the 10th player in program history to reach 2,000 career assists.

WINNING IN FIVE
Milwaukee won its first five-set match of the season on Friday evening, defeating Robert Morris in the fifth set by a 17-15 score after trailing by as many as five at 10-5. The Panthers won the first two sets but RMU fought back to win sets three and four, before Milwaukee recovered in the fifth.

The Panthers have played just two five-set matches this season, both coming at home, with a loss to DePaul on Sept. 17 and the Nov. 7 win over Robert Morris. The last time Milwaukee played two or fewer five set matches came back in 2022, when Milwaukee lost to both Notre Dame and Utah in non-league play. Meanwhile the last time Milwaukee played five set matches exclusively in the Klotsche Center was during the COVID-19 season in the spring if 2021, when the Panthers won a five-set match at home against Green Bay.

ANNIE OF LATE
Over the last five matches, sophomore Annie Eschenbach has registered double-figure kills in each match, including a season-best 15 against Purdue Fort Wayne on Nov. 1. Over that span she has been hitting .307, with a season-best .478 coming in the Nov. 8 win over Robert Morris.

HORIZON LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
On Monday, the Horizon League named Josie Noble as Player of the Week. It was the first selection for a Panther this season, and the first in Noble's career. She becomes the first Panther freshman to receive the honor since Madi Malone was named Horizon League Player of the Week on both Sept. 8 and Oct. 6 of the 2021 season.

ERDMANN OF LATE
With 138 digs over the past five matches, Kara Erdmann has climbed her way back towards the top of the nation in terms of digs and digs per set and moved into second in the Horizon League in both of those categories. Through the team's 29 matches this season, Erdmann has recorded 491 digs and is looking to get back into the top-10 of the Milwaukee single-season mark, needing 509 to break back into the top-10. Last year Erdmann set the Milwaukee single-season mark with 718 digs.

KILLS-BLOCKS DOUBLE-DOUBLE
With 13 Kills and 13 Blocks against Green Bay on Oct. 28, Josie Noble became the first Panther to record at least 10 blocks in a single match since Ari Miller did so against Oakland on Oct. 13, 2019, in Rochester, Mich.

The Kills-Blocks Double-Double is the first for a Panther since Rachel Neuberger had 15 Kills and 10 Blocks against Wright State on Oct. 12, 2012. They are the only two instances of Kills-Block Double-Doubles since the conclusion of the 2010 season.

BLOCKS AROUND THE NATION AND THE LEAGUE
With 13 blocks in the team's four-set win over Green Bay, Josie Noble has tied for the third-most blocks among all Division I players in a four-set match. Only Chelsea Cotter of George Mason with 15, and Julia Amorim of Hofstra with 14 have more than Noble in a four-set match this season.

Her 13 blocks are the most of any Horizon League student-athlete in any length of match this season, there have been four instances in 2025 of Horizon League players getting 11 or more blocks in a match. JeriLynn Koehler of Cleveland State being the only other to do so in league play, recording her total against Purdue Fort Wayne on Oct. 17, Katie Noschang (Northern Kentucky), Azra Eric (Robert Morris), and Taya Nordmann (Youngstown State) recorded their 11 blocks in non-league play.

SWEET 16
With 16 blocks against Green Bay on Oct. 28, it marked the most in a single match for the Panthers since the 2017 season, when Milwaukee secured 17 against North Carolina State on Sept. 16 of that season.

It was also the most for Milwaukee in a match against a Horizon League team since Nov. 24, 2013, when the Panthers had 16 in the Horizon League Championship match against Valparaiso, and most in a regular season Horizon League match since Milwaukee had 19 against Valpo on Oct. 13, 2012.

RIVALRY SWEEP
With Milwaukee's win over Green Bay on Tuesday, the Panthers swept their season series against their in-league foe. It marks the 14th time since 2004 that the Panthers have taken all matches against the Phoenix in a single season.

WHO'S LEADING TODAY?
Milwaukee loves to spread the ball around and have had five different players lead them in kills this season including a team-best 15 matches with the team-high by Natalie Schmitz. Josie Noble has led the team eight times, Bella Lipski four, Ella Schuetz  and Annie Eschenbach three times each.

The Panther defense has also had six different players lead the team in blocks at various points throughout the season including a team-best 18 times by Josie Noble. Bella Lipski has led the team in blocking 14 times this season, followed by Annie Eschenbach five times, Emily Hansen twice, and Julia Kellner, Natalie Schmitz and Sam Vanda once each.

Kara Erdmann has led Milwaukee in digs 27 times this year, while Josie Johnson, Ella Schuetz, Milica Tomic each finished a match with the team lead on one occasion. Johnson has also led Milwaukee in assists 19 times, while Milicia Tomic has led the Panthers 11 times this season.

ERDMANN IN THE TEENS
With 491 total digs and 5.06 digs per set, Kara Erdmann is currently ranked 15th and 14th in all of Division I volleyball through matches completed on Nov. 2. Last season, Erdmann finished the year second in the nation at both 5.85 digs per set and 719 total digs in 2024.

THE REVENGE SWEEP
Among current Horizon League members, Milwaukee has avenged a 3-0 loss with a 3-0 win against the same opponent just twice in its history. The Panthers accomplished the feat on Oct. 18 with a sweep over Wright State after being swept the evening prior.

The only other instance it has happened against the same Horizon League opponent also came against Wright State during the inaugural Horizon League season (following its transition from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference). The Panthers were swept by Wright State on Sept. 27 in Dayton but bounced back to win 3-0 over the Raiders at home on Oct. 26 of the same season.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
Over the last three seasons, Milwaukee and Wright State have gone 3-3 against one another with the Panther and Raiders reversing identical scores against one another. This year Milwaukee bounced back to win 3-0 in their second meeting after falling 3-0 the previous night, while in 2024 the team's exchanged 3-2 wins, and in 2023 the team's swapped 3-1 decisions.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE…
With Milwaukee's win over Wright State on Oct. 18, the Panthers handed the Raiders their first three-set loss in Horizon League play since the 2019 season, when UIC defeated WSU on Oct. 11. Among active Horizon League teams, the last to sweep Wright State was Green Bay on Nov. 4, 2018.

The three-set win for Milwaukee was its first over Wright State since the Panthers did so on Sept. 24, 2016, and was the first time the Black & Gold swept WSU on its home court since Nov. 15, 2014.

NOT SO BLOCK PARTY
The Panthers are 1-12 this season in matches where they are outblocked by opponents, winning their first match in the team's four-set win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Oct. 31. Milwaukee is also 7-6 with more blocks than their opponents and 1-2 when blocks are equal.

NOBLE UP FRONT
With 104 blocks on the season, Josie Noble leads Milwaukee with her efforts and is looking to become the first freshman to lead the Panthers in blocks since Ari Miller had 99 blocks her freshman season in 2019.

The freshman record at Milwaukee for blocks in a season is Natalie Schmitting, who had 123 blocks in 2007. There have been five first-year players in program history to record at least 100 digs in their rookie campaigns.

At 1.11 blocks per set entering play this week, Noble is on pace to finish third on the freshman list in blocks per set during a season.

JOHNSON REACHES 200 HORIZON LEAGUE WINS
After reaching 300 total coaching wins with Milwaukee in 2024, head coach Susie Johnson reached another milestone in the team's three-set win over Wright State on Oct. 18 as she recorded her 200th Horizon League win as head coach of the Panthers. Chuck Voss, current head coach at Cleveland State enters this week with 222 wins in league play.

WITHIN THE HORIZON
Below are Milwaukee's top performers in each statistical category, as provided by the Horizon League…
Hitting Percentage: Josie Noble (7th, .286 Pct.)
Kills: Natalie Schmitz (15th, 2.78 Kills/Set)
Assists: Josie Johnson (10th, 5.04 Assists/Set)
Service Aces: Kati Goba (16th, 0.23 Aces/Set)
Blocks: Josie Noble (2nd, 1.11 Blocks/Set)
Digs: Kara Erdmann (2nd, 5.06 Digs/Set)
Points: Josie Noble (16th, 3.15 Points/Set)

REACHING THE MARK
Senior Natalie Schmitz became the latest Panther to join the 1,000 kill club with her sixth kill earlier this season against Iowa State. In doing so, Schmitz became the first Panther to reach 1,000 since Madi Malone did so during her junior season in 2023. Former teammate and all-time kills leader Ari Miller reached 1,000 career kills a season prior in 2022 and finished her career with 1,563.

PANTHERS vs. RANKED
Milwaukee played two teams this season that garnered attention from the American Volleyball Coaches Association. The Panthers are played Preseason No. 8 Wisconsin on Sept. 9 before taking on Marquette on Sept. 14, the Golden Eagles are receiving votes in the poll. The schedule also featured preseason No. 13 Arizona State in Tempe on Sept. 21.

The Panthers are 2-39 in all-time meetings against top-25 programs, which includes the losses earlier this season to Wisconsin and Arizona State.