Here is the full schedule:
Wednesday, 11/5 ------ 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Thursday, 11/6 ------- 9:00-11:00 a.m.
Friday, 11/7 --------- 12:00-2:00 a.m.
Friday, 11/7 --------- 12:30-2:30 p.m.
Sunday, 11/9 --------- 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Watch it here:
This chart below tells most of the story.
That works out to an opponent winning percentage of 57.9 and an average opponent RPI if 93.4. Eight of 12 non-league opponents finished in the top 100 of the RPI, including five in the top 50.
“I really don’t think there is any other way to go about this season,” head coach Susie Johnson said of the schedule. “You can go with playing a bunch of lower-level RPI teams and win a lot, but what are you learning? This team has to be challenged. We are not changing our goals for where we want to be just because we had a rough year last year. The truth is that it is important to me to prepare the team to play at the highest level we can be. Scheduling this tough in the preseason is the formula.”
And Johnson says there’s no use in shying away from the reality of just how tough the schedule will be. In fact, she’s made sure her team is well-informed of the tests they will be facing.
“The other side of playing a tough schedule is preparing the team,” Johnson said. “We’ve talked about the opponents since the spring when the schedule was finalized. We’ve been preparing for these opponents. I do think that’s the best way to do it. I hope it works because it can all be a gamble, but the reality is we like challenges and I think we’re up for it.”
Here are the news and notes from the win over Green Bay.
Last Week’s Results
9/28 – def. Green Bay, 3-2
This Week Matches
10/5 - @ Loyola; 10/6 - @ UIC
Player of the Week
Julie Kolinske, So., OH, Big Bend, Wis.
It continues to be hard to pick anyone besides Kolinske for this honor. Against Green Bay, the sophomore tied her collegiate-high with 22 kills and hit .360 in the five-set win. She also added six digs and three blocks. She is now averaging better than four kills per set and is averaging 4.5 kills per set in league matches. She also adds better than three digs per set.
News and Notes
UWM win Friday marked its 27th in its last 28 Horizon League regular season matches … the Panthers also beat Green Bay for the ninth-straight time … Anna Bartz collected 26 digs and now has 836 in her career … Hannah Blanchard tallied a collegiate-best 55 assists … Amber Simonton made her first collegiate start and had six blocks … UWM collected 12 blocks as a team … this was Milwaukee first five-set win of the season after losing its first four 5-set contests … the win turned the tables on a Green Bay team that entered Friday having won five of six 5-set matches.
Wright State Recap and Stats
Butler Recap and Stats
Player Of The Weekend: Kerri Schuh another excellent all-around weekend for the Panthers. She hit .412 while averaging 4.33 kills per set. She then added 3.33 digs and 1.50 blocks per frame. Saturday alone, she had 16 kills and 15 digs in the three-set sweep of Butler.
Key Stats: Milwaukee’s blocking efforts really set the tone for the Panthers this weekend. UWM wound up averaging 2.83 blocks per set in the two wins, limiting its two opponents to a .092 hitting clip.
News and Notes: UWM has now won 12-straight matches this season and 21-straight regular season league matches overall … the Panthers have also won 15-straight league road contests … Milwaukee’s 12-0 start in league play is its best-ever league start … the Panthers have now won eight of their 12 league matches in three sets … Milwaukee has won 20 of its last 21 matches against Wright State … the Panthers’ .407 hitting percentage against Wright State was its best of the season ... it is also the best Milwaukee has recorded in a league match … the Panthers hit .317 in the two matches of the weekend while limiting its opponents to a .092 hitting clip.
Up Next: The Panthers return to the Klotsche Center next weekend for their final two regular season home matches. UWM entertains Youngstown State Friday at 7 p.m. before Cleveland State visits Saturday at 4 p.m.
Loyola Recap and Stats
Green Bay Recap and Stats
Player Of The Weekend: It hasn’t always been easy this season to pick out just one player of the week for the Panthers, and that has been a good thing. But this weekend Kerri Schuh played like the Horizon League Player of the Year and in many ways carried the Panthers to their two wins. Friday at Loyola, Schuh had 23 kills and hit .583 in Milwaukee’s four-set win. Then Saturday, Schuh led the way with 20 kills while adding 16 digs and seven blocks in the five-set victory at Green Bay. Schuh leads the Panthers in kills, is second in digs and is one of three players averaging better than a block per set.
Key Stats: Defense is a big key for Milwaukee and it was UWM’s defense that came through when it counted late in each match. Friday at Loyola, the Ramblers hit just .152 in the third set and .088 in the fourth frame. Then Saturday at Green Bay, the Phoenix hit -.075 in the third, .220 in the fourth and .071 in the fifth. In the win over the Phoenix, UWM had just 22 digs total in the first two sets, then had 59 over the final three frames.
News and Notes: With Cleveland State’s loss at home to Butler Saturday, Milwaukee is now two matches ahead of the Vikings in the loss column. Every other team has at least three losses … UWM’s 10-0 league start has tied its best league start in school history. The Panthers also opened the league campaign 10-0 in 2003 … UWM has now won 13-straight league road matches … the Panthers have won 19-straight league regular season matches overall … Milwaukee has won 12 in a row over Loyola and 17 of its last 18 over Green Bay … Mary Beth O’Brien entered the match with Green Bay in the fourth set and tallied six kills … Kerri Schuh has now passed 1,100 career kills … this is the first time in her career she has collected 20-plus kills in consecutive matches … she is the first Panther to collect back-to-back 20-plus kill outings since Becky Peters did it in 2008 … Peters had 24 kills against Oregon State and 20 against Wright State that year.
Up Next: UWM heads back to the road next weekend, playing at Wright State Friday night and at Butler Saturday afternoon.
Player Of The Weekend: You could pick any one of five hitters and not get much of an argument, but when the offense is that good it is hard to not pick the setter as the star. Kayla Price averaged 12.33 assists per set in the two wins, leading the Panthers to better than .300 hitting performances in both matches. Over the first four matches of league play, she is atop the assists chart. And, on the overall stat sheet, she is second in the league in the category.
Key Stats: There was nothing to complain about when it came to the Panther offense this weekend. UWM hit .335 over the two matches, committing just 22 hitting errors while averaging nearly 16 kills per set. Five different players averaged better than two kills for set and none of those players hit worse than .283 for the weekend.
News and Notes: UWM is 4-0 in Horizon League play for the second-straight season … the Panthers hit .351 Saturday against Wright State after hitting .317 in the win over Butler Friday. This is the first time Milwaukee has hit better than .300 in back-to-back matches since 2006 … that year, UWM hit .351 against Wright State on Nov. 11 and .301 against Youngstown State Nov. 17 … the Panthers also hit better than .300 in three-straight matches earlier that season, doing it in all three contests at a tournament at Alabama … Milwaukee is hitting .288 in league play so far this season … after winning eight matches in four or five sets to start the season, the Panthers have won in three sets three times in a row … UWM has won 18 of its last 19 against Wright State … the Panthers are now 35-4 at home against league teams under Susie Johnson … Morgan Potter has now reached double figures in digs 50 times in her career. She has 942 career digs … Rachel Neuberger (.750 vs. Wright State) and Mackenzie Millis (.700 vs. Butler) both set collegiate-bests for hitting percentage this weekend.
Up Next: UWM hits the road for the first time in league, heading to Ohio for the weekend. Action starts Friday night with a first-place showdown at Cleveland State.
Akron Full Match Recap and Stats
Southern Miss Full Match Recap and Stats
Player Of The Day: Rachel Neuberger was great last weekend at Drake and has done nothing but continue that trend this weekend. She collected 14 kills and seven blocks in the win over Akron in the afternoon, then had 16 kills while hitting .481 in the victory over Southern Mississippi. For the season she is hitting .374 and is up to second on the team in kills.
Key Stats: Defense has always been a cornerstone of the Panthers’ success and those numbers got a little better again Friday. Against Akron, UWM recovered from allowing the Zips to hit .278 in the first frame by limiting them to hitting percentages of .108, .070 and .121 the rest of the way. Milwaukee also outdug Akron, 69-51. Then against Southern Miss, Milwaukee held the Eagles to a .088 hitting clip and collected 14.5 blocks. The Panthers also had 81 digs.
News and Notes: UWM will be playing for the Milwaukee Invitational crown Saturday. It is trying to win two in-season tournaments in the same year for the first time since 2007 … the Panthers’ 7-2 start is their best since 2007, when they were 8-1 after nine matches … UWM is now 4-2 all-time against Akron and 2-0 against Southern Mississippi … Mackenzie Millis equaled her collegiate-best with 10 kills against Akron and set a new collegiate-high with nine blocks against USM … after sitting out against Akron to assist in her injury recovery, Elizabeth Egerer returned to the lineup against USM and had 13 kills …. Kerri Schuh played in her 100th career match Friday night … Schuh is up to 987 career kills … Schuh and Neuberger have each reached double figures in kills in five-straight matches … Morgan Potter has been in double figures in digs in 14-straight matches.
Up Next: UWM hosts Marquette Saturday at 7 p.m.