MILWAUKEE – Twelve non-conference matches, including road contests against Wisconsin, Marquette, and Iowa, highlight the 2026 Milwaukee volleyball schedule as announced by head coach Susie Johnson on Thursday morning.

Milwaukee finished third in the Horizon League last fall, compiling an 11-7 record in league play. The Panthers fell in the quarterfinals to IU Indy at Truist Arena and return a talented core group of student-athletes, along with several additions through the transfer portal and the incoming freshman class.

The 2026 campaign begins in Iowa, as the Panthers will take part in a multi-team event hosted by Drake in Des Moines. First on the slate is DePaul on Aug. 28, a team that narrowly escaped with a five-set victory over Milwaukee at the Klotsche Center last fall.

The Panthers will take on host Drake and South Dakota the following afternoon. Last season, Drake finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference and advanced to the conference championship match, while South Dakota won 20 matches and earned the No. 2 seed in the Summit League under the direction of Panther alumna and Bud K. Haidet Hall of Famer Leanne Williamson.

The following weekend will see Milwaukee head to St. Paul, Minnesota, for three matches at St. Thomas from Sept. 3-5. The Panthers will face UIC in the opener, with the Flames coming off a 17-win campaign that included 11 victories in MVC competition. The next day, Milwaukee takes on Montana State of the Big Sky Conference, which is coming off a 13-15 season. Finally, the Panthers will face the host Tommies, last season's Summit League Tournament champions, who nearly knocked off No. 5 Iowa State in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship.

The Panthers can focus on one opponent the next week, as the team will travel to Terre Haute, Indiana, for a pair of matches against the Sycamores on Sept. 10 and 11. This will be Milwaukee's first match against Indiana State since the 1997 season, when the Panthers defeated ISU in five sets at the Klotsche Center.

Milwaukee's busiest stretch of the season will see the team play four matches over five days in four different facilities, beginning with in-state foe Wisconsin on Sept. 18. This will be the third straight season that Milwaukee has traveled to the UW Field House. The Badgers finished 2025 with a 28-5 record and an appearance in the national semifinals against Kentucky. Along the way, Wisconsin defeated Eastern Illinois, North Carolina, Stanford, and Texas to reach the Final Four.

After nine matches away from home to open 2026, Milwaukee plays its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Klotsche Center against Western Michigan. The Broncos won 17 matches a year ago and advanced to the Mid-American Conference Championship match against Toledo.

The next day, the Panthers head across town to the Al McGuire Center to renew their annual matchup against Marquette for the fifth straight season and the 40th all-time meeting as Division I opponents. Following a 17-win season, the Golden Eagles received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, defeating Western Kentucky before falling to Louisville in the second round.

For the first time in 11 seasons, Milwaukee will travel to Iowa City to face Iowa, its second Big Ten opponent during the five-day stretch. The two teams met in Milwaukee in 2024, with the Panthers earning a four-set victory, their first win in six all-time meetings against the Hawkeyes.

The new-look Horizon League schedule will now feature 11 teams with the addition of Northern Illinois as a full-time conference member on July 1. The conference slate will be reduced to 16 matches, creating an unbalanced schedule in which Milwaukee will face some opponents twice and others just once.

Horizon League competition begins on the road against Northern Kentucky (Sept. 25-26), while other road matches will include Green Bay (Oct. 13), Northern Illinois (Oct. 15), Oakland (Oct. 30-31), Youngstown State (Nov. 12), and Robert Morris (Nov. 13).

Conference competition at the Klotsche Center will include the home opener against Green Bay (Sept. 29), along with Northern Illinois (Oct. 1), Cleveland State (Oct. 9-10), IU Indy (Oct. 23), Purdue Fort Wayne (Oct. 24), and a pair of matches against Wright State (Nov. 6-7) to close the regular season.

With the unbalanced league schedule, the postseason tournament will expand to eight teams, with the first round taking place on Nov. 19. The quarterfinals (Nov. 20) and semifinals (Nov. 21) will set the stage for the 2026 Horizon League Championship match on Nov. 22.

Wright State enters the season as the defending Horizon League champion after earning the No. 2 seed in 2025 and sweeping top-seeded Northern Kentucky in the championship match to secure the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.