MILWAUKEE – With a 6-1 record to start Horizon League play, the Panthers will wrap up the first half of the conference schedule this weekend as Milwaukee will meet Oakland on Friday in Michigan and will take on Cleveland State a day later on Saturday afternoon in Ohio.
  
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Friday, October 13 – Milwaukee at Oakland | Athletics Center O'Rena | Rochester, Mich. | 5:00 pm
Saturday, October 14 – Milwaukee at Cleveland State | Woodling Gymnasium | Cleveland, Ohio | 3:00 pm
 
QUICK LINKS
Live Stats (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
ESPN+ (Oakland Match Only): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Follow Along (On X): @MKE_Volleyball
Tickets (Oakland): Oakland Tickets
Tickets (Cleveland State): Cleveland State Tickets
 
FAST FACTS
» Milwaukee heads out on the road for its next four games beginning with Oakland and Cleveland State this weekend. The Panthers went 2-1 at home this past week with a loss to Green Bay before bouncing back with a win over Northern Kentucky on Friday followed by a win over preseason favorite Wright State on Saturday.
» The Panthers meet the Golden Grizzlies of Oakland on Friday evening. Milwaukee is on a six-match winning streak against the Golden Grizzlies dating back to the Spring 2021 season, while MKE is 13-9 all-time against Oakland, which includes a 5-5 mark in Rochester, Michigan.
» In terms of common opponents, Milwaukee and Oakland have wins against St. Thomas, Western Illinois, Purdue Fort Wayne, Robert Morris, IUPUI, and Wright State. The Panthers also own wins against Chicago State and Northern Kentucky, who have beaten Oakland this season.
» Cleveland State ended Milwaukee's season in the quarterfinal round of the 2022 Horizon League Tournament as the Vikings are on a two-match winning streak against the Panthers. The Panthers are looking for their 50th all-time win against Cleveland State as MKE is 49-22 in all meetings. Milwaukee owns a 22-13 mark in road games in Northeast Ohio.
» The Panthers and Vikings have faced seven common opponents and have identical wins over Western Illinois, IUPUI, Youngstown State, and Purdue Fort Wayne. Milwaukee also owns wins over Robert Morris, Wright State, and Northern Kentucky, who the Vikings have lost to.
» The Panthers are led by head coach Susie Johnson, who is in her 17th season as head coach and 27th overall with the program. Johnson became the program's all-time head coaching wins leader with her 272nd on September 19; later in the week she earned her 500th career win on the Panther sideline, which includes her time as both a head coach and an assistant coach.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – OAKLAND
Oakland has been able to start its conference season with five wins in seven chances and are 11-8 overall on the season. The Golden Grizzlies are only second to Milwaukee in the Horizon League with a .208 hitting percentage to the Panthers' .244 hitting percentage this season. Oakland is currently tops in the league with an average of 17.54 digs per set, good enough for a top-five spot in all of NCAA Division I.

Offensively, Ainsley Guse is second to Milwaukee's Ari Miller in hitting percentage at .332 to Miller's .382. Patti Cesarini is also top-five in the conference in kills with an average of 3.17 kills per set. Emily Wichmann is tops in the conference in digs as she averages 5.33 per set with a league-leading 373 this season.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION – CLEVELAND STATE
Cleveland State has a 9-9 mark thus far on the season with a 3-4 record in Horizon League games. The Vikings will host Green Bay before welcoming the Panthers to Woodling Gymnasium on Saturday. The Vikings are at the top of the league in hitting defense with a Horizon League-best .172 opponent hitting percent, just ahead of Milwaukee's .187. The Vikings are also just ahead of the Panthers in blocking at 2.57 blocks per set to Milwaukee's 2.40.

Madison Olinger leads the Cleveland State offense in hitting percentage at .300 with 110 kills on 250 attempts. Liberty Torres has a team-best 221 kills with Laken Voss just off the pace at 189 this year. Karly Klaer leads the Horizon with 628 assists, while Emma Walker is towards the top of the league in digs and is one of just three averaging better than five per set.

LAST TIME OUT
Milwaukee looked impressive in its most recent weekend of competition, taking a pair of four-set wins from Northern Kentucky on Friday and Wright State on Saturday at the Klotsche Center.

The Panthers had four players in double-figure kills with Madi Malone leading the way with 17 against the Norse on Friday, while Kaley Blake had a double-double as she led the team with 23 assists and 16 digs. Ari Miller had seven blocks on the match as she hit a team-best .458 offensively.

Against Wright State it was Malone to lead the way for the Panthers again with 21 kills and a .388 hitting percentage. Josie Johnson had 21 assists, while Blake had 20, with both Malone and Miller each recording a pair of aces each. The Panthers had 11 blocks on the match including seven assisted blocks by Lakyn Graves. Kara Erdmann had a season-best 18 digs in the effort to help the Panthers to the win.

IN THE NATION
Out of 332 Division I programs, Milwaukee is currently seconds in the nation in team assists with 989, team kills with 1,062, and team blocks with 197.

The Panthers are also fourth in the nation in total attacks with 2,803 on the season, and seventh in total team digs with 1,211 on the year.

MILLER'S TOP-10 ASCENT
With 252 kills this season, Ari Miller now has 1,432 for her career with Milwaukee, that total now places her third on the all-time Division I kills list in program history. Next on the list is Laura Dallenbach in second place all-time as Dallenbach finished her career with 1,534 career kills.

In addition to her kills mark, Miller now has 97 blocks in her final collegiate season to give her 413 career blocks. She is currently in fourth on the all-time blocks list and needs six more to reach the top-three on the all-time blocks list.

Miller also moved into the top-10 all time in both matches played and sets played, Miller has now seen time in 123 career matches (3rd) and 454 sets played (5th).

HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS
Milwaukee has had a league-leading five selections for Horizon League Player of the Week as Madi Malone earned her second-consecutive selection on Monday afternoon. In addition to Malone's two selections, Ari Miller has earned the weekly nod from the conference on three occasions in the month of September.

Malone and Miller are two of just three Horizon League student-athletes to earn multiple Player of the Week nods this season. Panna Ratkai of Purdue Fort Wayne has three selections to tie Miller for the league lead.

PICKING UP THE PACE IN HORIZON LEAGUE PLAY
In seven conference matches this season, Madi Malone has stepped it up with a team-best 90 kills, good enough for 3.46 kills per set and is hitting .289 on the year with a team-best 232 attacking attempts. Malone is tied for fifth on the team with seven service aces and is third on the team with 63 digs.

In 18 matches overall on the season, Malone has 3.02 kills per set with 248 kills on a team-high 708 attempts. Malone only had two service aces in non-conference play, while she finished non-league play with 131 digs.

BLOCK PARTY
Following 179 blocks in 2019, the Panthers have increased their team's total block total every season, with 180 in 2021, and 211 in 2022. Through 21 matches Milwaukee has 197 blocks and are on a strong pace to continue their upward trend in 2023.

The Panthers are tops in the Horizon League with their team block total at 197 and are also second in the league in solo blocks with 44 thus far. Ari Miller is third in the league with 13 solo blocks, while Lakyn Graves is tied for fourth with 12, Czhen Beneby is tied for sixth in the league with 11.

With 97 blocks on the season individually, Ari Miller is currently sixth in all of NCAA Division I and is just 11 blocks off the national lead. Miller is two shy of tying her career high of 99 blocks set during her freshman season.

DOUBLE-QUARTER
Twice this season setters Kaley Blake and Josie Johnson have recorded at least 25 assists each in the span of one contest. Against Villanova early in the season, Johnson and 30 and Blake had 26 in the five-setter against the Wildcats. Against Air Force on September 15, Johnson had 29 and Blake registered 25. The duo has now accomplished the feat on three occasions in their career, with their first instance coming on October 18 of the 2022 season, when Johnson had 26 and Blake had 29 against IUPUI.

The last time two setters had more than 30 assists in a single match came back on August 29, 2021, when Blake had 32 assists and former teammate Rylie Vaughn had 31 in the team's five-set match against Valparaiso at the Klotsche Center.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
In her final season with the team, Sarah Schrader has played a vital role in the team's defensive efforts in the back row this year with a team-best 304 digs, which is already the second highest dig total for her career. In 2022, Schrader had a career-best 324 digs and is well ahead of that pace as she is averaging 4.14 digs per set compared to last year's 3.31 dig per set as a junior.

With her 36 digs against Western Illinois on September 8, Schrader moved into a third-place tie on the single-match digs list in five-set matches, equaling the mark of Myanna Ruiz in September of 2015. The single match-record for the Panthers is 41 digs set by Becky Peters in 2005, while Lauren Felsing is the only other player to reach 40 digs in a match as she did so in 2009 with 40 digs in a four-set match.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP HERE
Following strong freshman campaigns in 2022 Natalie Schmitz and Josie Johnson both reached new career-high marks at their respective positions during the opening trio of matches in Michigan.

Schmitz has secured a career-best 17 kills in three matches this season, including the team's matches against Villanova, Montana State, and Northwestern. Johnson also reached a career-high mark in the match against the Bobcats of Montana State with 31 assists.

COACHING MILESTONES
Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson earned her 272nd head coaching victory at Milwaukee to become the program's all-time leader in wins as a Division I program (since 1990). Johnson earned the win with a five-set victory over the Chicago State Cougars on Tuesday evening and is now the department's leader in wins for any women's sport at Milwaukee.

In addition to her head coaching wins total with the Panthers, Johnson also recorded her 500th career win with the Panthers program on Saturday against Purdue Fort Wayne. Johnson has 274 wins as head coach, coupled with 226 wins during her 10 seasons as an assistant coach with the program.

1,000 DIVISION I MATCHES
Earlier this season, the Milwaukee volleyball program played its 1,000th Division I match in its 34th season of competition. The Panthers won the match in five sets over Western Illinois at the SIUE Cougar Classic. The program's first-ever match took place on August 31, 1990, against Wright State in Macomb, Illinois at a tournament hosted by Western Illinois.

LOOKING AHEAD
After this weekend, the Panthers continue their road trip as Milwaukee will head to Purdue Fort Wayne and IUPUI. After the weekend in Indiana, the Panthers return home to take on Youngstown State and Robert Morris at the Klotsche Center during the final weekend in October.