MILWAUKEE – The Panther volleyball team concludes its four-match homestand on Friday and Saturday afternoon as Milwaukee battles Cleveland State for a pair of Horizon League contests.
 
Friday's match will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will also serve as the team's annual breast cancer awareness match with pink t-shirts given to fans in attendance. Saturday will be alumni and family day at the Klotsche Center with first serve set for 2:00 p.m.
 
Live stats for both matches will be available at the links found on MKEPanthers.com.
 
WEEK AT A GLANCE & GAME LINKS
Friday, Oct. 9 | Cleveland State at Milwaukee | Milwaukee, Wis. | Klotsche Center | Live Stats
Saturday, Oct. 10 | Cleveland State at Milwaukee | Milwaukee, Wis. | Klotsche Center | Live Stats

FIRST SERVE
» Entering play this week on an eight-match losing streak, the Panthers will look to stop the skid against Cleveland State this weekend with a pair of matches against the Vikings.
» The Panthers will host the Vikings at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. inside the Klotsche Center.
» Milwaukee will host Cleveland State for the first time since 2024, when the two sides split their weekend set on the final week of the regular season, setting up a playoff matchup that saw Cleveland State winning in four sets.
» Last year when the Panthers and Vikings met in Cleveland, Milwaukee swept the pair in straight sets.
» This past week, Milwaukee dropped a pair of five-set decisions, first losing to Green Bay on Tuesday before falling to Northern Illinois on Thursday.
» During the two matches last week, Milwaukee was led by Ella Parker, who tallied 30 kills, followed by Josie Noble with 20, and Ella Schuetz with 18. Milica Tomic had 47 assists and Emma Duffy added 36.
» The Panthers had more service aces than the Phoenix and Huskies last week, recording 18 to their opponents' 12, Schuetz had five, and Liv Doerre added four. Parker and Kayla Landerud each added three.
» Milwaukee struggled to get its block going, finishing the week with just 16 over the two-match stretch. Noble led the way with 10, while Annie Eschenbach was second with five.
» Cleveland State enters the weekend at 3-12 overall with an 0-4 mark in the Horizon League. The Vikings are on a nine-match losing streak including a pair of losses to Purdue Fort Wayne, as well as losses to Northern Kentucky at Wright State at home this past weekend.
» The Vikes have been led by Bryn VanVleet at 3.21 points per set, including a team-high 164 kills and 19 blocks. Fiona Cooper has 488 assists and is one of three players with at least 20 service aces. Vayda Delventhal has 235 digs and Julia Jozefov has a team-high 51 blocks this season.

THREE THINGS ABOUT CLEVELAND STATE
1. Cleveland State started the season 2-1 and was 3-3 through the first two weekends of the season. However, since Sept. 5, the Vikings have dropped nine-straight matches. CSU dropped a pair at Purdue Fort Wayne to begin Horizon League play and then fell at home to Northern Kentucky and Wright State this past weekend.
2. Offensively, Cleveland State is 10th of 11 teams in hitting percentage at .167 and eighth in the league in kills at 12.00 per set. However, the Vikings are the top serving team in the league at 1.95 aces per set and are in the middle of the pack at fifth with 1.89 blocks per set.
3. Ranked 30th in the nation with 113 aces and 27th nationally in aces per set, the Vikings are paced by Jazen Debina with 27 aces, followed by Addison Koppelman with 23 and Fiona Cooper with 21. All three rank in the top 150 in total service aces among Division I student-athletes.

UP NEXT
After the four-match homestand wraps up on Saturday against Cleveland State, the Panthers will play a pair of road matches, beginning with Green Bay on Oct. 13 and Northern Illinois on Oct. 15. Milwaukee returns home on Oct. 23 against IU Indy and Oct. 24 versus Purdue Fort Wayne.

FIVE-SET FRENZY
Milwaukee has opened its home schedule with three consecutive five-set matches, which is the first time in program history that the Panthers have gone the distance in three straight matches to open the home season.

Milwaukee opened the 2008 season with two-straight five-setters, while the program has opened the home season on six occasions with a five-set match.

FIVE-MATCH WIN STREAK
Milwaukee won five-straight matches from Sept. 3 through Sept. 11, which was Milwaukee's longest winning streak in non-league play since the 2023 season, when the Panthers also won five-straight from Sept. 1 through Sept. 8, recording wins against Montana State, St. Thomas, Northwestern, Idaho and Western Illinois.
The last time Milwaukee had a winning streak longer than five matches in non-conference play was during the 2019 season, when the Panthers won 10-straight matches heading into Horizon League play.

YEAR TWO LEAPS
For three Panthers in their second years with the program, Josie Noble, Annie Eschenbach and Ella Schuetz have made large leaps in their development in helping Milwaukee to its early-season success.

Eschenbach had 137 kills over 87 sets last year (1.57 kills/set) and has bumped that to 2.56 kills per set.
Schuetz had 210 kills over 102 sets last year (2.06 kills/set) and has bumped that to 2.08 kills per set.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
Through the team's first 16 matches, Kati Goba is sixth in the Horizon League at 4.00 digs per set, with Daisy Cluxton of Northern Kentucky leading the league at 4.45 digs/set. Goba enters play on Sept. 28 ranked 103rd among Division I players in digs per set and 50th in the nation in total digs with 256.

EARLY SEASON BLOCKING
Milwaukee anticipated a strong blocking game heading into the 2026 season, and thus far in the early season, it has been successful. The Panthers are fourth in the Horizon League in blocks per set at 1.97, with 126 blocks through 64 sets played. Northern Kentucky leads at 2.28 with 220 blocks over 60 sets played.

WHO WAS LEADING TODAY?
Through 16 matches in 2026, five different Panthers have led the team in kills, including Ella Schuetz, Bella Lipski, Josie Noble, Annie Eschenbach and Ella Parker. Milica Tomic has led Milwaukee in assists 13 times, while Emma Duffy has done so four times this year.

Defensively, six players have led the team in blocks, including Noble (10 times), Lipski (seven times), Eschenbach (twice), Schuetz (once), Julia Kellner (once) and Kayla Landerud (once), while Kati Goba has led or tied for the team lead in digs in all but three of the team's matches this season. Ella Parker (twice), Ella Schuetz and Milica Tomic have each done so once.

ACES ARE WILD
During the team's five-set win over Montana State on Sept. 4, the Panthers recorded nine service aces, including four from freshman Liv Doerre. The nine aces are the most since the team also had nine on Sept. 27 at home against Oakland in 2025.

Since then, Milwaukee recorded 10 aces on Sept. 29, which was the first time the Panthers had recorded double figures in aces since Sept. 13, 2024, with 10 against Illinois State, while the last time the team had at least 10 in a Horizon League match was on Oct. 27, 2023, at home against Youngstown State.

NOT SO BLOCK PARTY
In 2025, the Panthers were 1-13 in matches where they were outblocked by opponents, winning their first such match in the team's four-set win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Oct. 31. Milwaukee was also 8-6 with more blocks than its opponents and 2-2 when blocks were equal.

So far in 2026, Milwaukee is 3-1 when outblocking opponents, 2-7 when being outblocked and 0-3 when blocks are even.