MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee begins Horizon League play this weekend as the Panthers head to Michigan to take on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies for a pair of matches. The opener takes place at 5:00 p.m. (CT) on Friday, followed by a 1:00 p.m. (CT) matinee on Saturday afternoon.
 
Coverage of the Friday night match will be available on ESPN+, while live stats of both contests will also be available. The links to both the ESPN+ and the live stats will be available on MKEPanthers.com.
  
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Friday, Sept. 27 | Milwaukee at Oakland | Athletics Center O'Rena | Rochester, Mich. | 5:00 p.m. (CT)
Saturday, Sept. 28 | Milwaukee at Oakland | Athletics Center O'Rena | Rochester, Mich. | 1:00 p.m. (CT)
 
GAME LINKS
Live Stats (All Matches): mkepanthers.com/coverage
ESPN+ (Friday Match Only): mkepanthers.com/coverage

QUICK HITS
» Milwaukee opens Horizon League play this week when the Panthers travel to Rochester, Michigan to take on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. Oakland is 4-8 to begin the season, winning one of three this past weekend at the Ohio Invitational.
» The Panthers have won eight-straight matches against the Golden Grizzlies, including a pair of sweeps a year ago. Milwaukee won in Michigan, 3-0 and did the same at home later in the year on Nov. 11.
» MKE is 6-5 all-time in matches played at the Athletics Center O'Rena including 4-2 in their last six visits to suburban Detroit.
» Milwaukee took part in the 'Chicago Cup' this past weekend falling to DePaul in three sets on Sept. 19 and dropping a four-set match to UIC on Sept. 21.
» Madi Malone led Milwaukee with 21 kills last week while Bri Geurts had 17. Milica Tomic had 31 assists followed by Josie Johnson with 30. The Panthers had five service aces led by two from Tomic.
» Defensively, Kara Erdmann led the Panthers with 37 digs while Lakyn Graves, Madi Malone, and Rachel Scott each had three blocks apiece on the week.
» Excluding the Spring 2021 COVID season, Milwaukee has won every conference opener dating back to the 2018 season. MKE last opened the Horizon League schedule against Oakland in 2015, when the Panthers knocked off the Golden Grizzlies in five sets on Sept. 24.
» After visiting Oakland this weekend, Milwaukee returns to Wisconsin on Tuesday and visits Green Bay on Oct. 1 at the Kress Center. The Panthers will be home again on Friday, Oct. 4 and Saturday, Oct. 5 against the Jaguars of IU Indianapolis.

LOOKING AT OAKLAND
Conference play opens for the Golden Grizzlies this week as they welcome the Panthers to the O'Rena before visiting Cleveland State to open the road half of league play on Tuesday. Oakland is 4-8 through the opening 12 games of non-conference play including wins over Hampton, Eastern Michigan, Saint Francis and Ohio.

Krysta Rice is in her third season as head coach and after winning 11 matches in her first season, improved to 17 victories a season ago, clinching a berth as the fifth seed in postseason play. The fifth seed was the program's highest bid in the league standing since the 2017 season, when the Golden Grizzlies were second in the Horizon League.

This year the team is being outhit by their opponents by 27 percentage points, with a .203 percentage offensive and a .230 hitting percentage by their competition. Christina Bohm leads all hitters with a .253 hitting percentage, at 70 kills through 12 matches. Tyler Linkhart has taken over 400 attempts this season and amassed 120 kills while Gentry Brown has 112 kills on the year.

Rachel Rossman has been the team's primary setter with 311 assists, but freshman Delaney Stern has added 111 to the offensive effort. Behind the service line, Linkhart leads the way with 16 aces, while Brown has a dozen and Rossman has added 10 thus far on the season.

After finishing fifth in the nation in 2023 in total digs, the Golden Grizzlies are looking to return to form but are currently seventh in the Horizon League and 108th nationally in total digs. Emily Wichmann is still in the top-50 nationally with 204 digs, but that number is only third in the league with Milwaukee's Kara Erdmann leading the way with 223 this season.

Senior Ainsley Guse is a force at the net with 42 blocks already on the season, that number is good enough for third best in the conference, behind Allana Appleby of Cleveland State and Azra Eric of Robert Morris.

UP NEXT
After the trip to Oakland this weekend, Milwaukee continues to Green Bay for a midweek matchup against the Phoenix on Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. at the Kress Center. Milwaukee finally returns home for its first matchup at the Klotsche Center since Sept. 15, as the Panthers will host the IU Indianapolis Jaguars on Oct. 4-5.

1,000 CAREER DIGS
During the team'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 16th in the nation with 223 digs this season, which also places her 17th nationally in digs per set at 4.96 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 five different student-athletes lead the Panthers in kills through the team's season thus far.

Madi Malone has led the team in kills on five occasions while Natalie Schmitz has led the team three times, Alexis Lewis and Bri Geurts have both led the team in kills on two occurrences this season. Rachel Scott has also led the team in kills once in 2024.

SERVING UP AN ACE
After collecting just three service aces in limited service action as a junior, Lakyn Graves has been the top servers for Milwaukee thus far with a team-best 17 service aces, which places her 17th in the Horizon League.

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 six double-doubles on the season, Madi Malone now has 42 double-doubles for her career.

Malone has 1,228 kills and is now in seventh on the Milwaukee all-time kills list, and is 25 behind the sixth position occupied by Chrissy Schurla with 1,253.

Her 1,025 digs is also the most among active players, as are her 106 matches played, 393 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.