Susie Johnson
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Panthers Look To Bounce Back During Busy Week
UWM plays four matches in six days
Oct. 6, 2008
Tues. Oct. 7 • Loyola • 7 pm • Klotsche Center
Of Note: Ramblers play at Green Bay Monday
Wed. Oct. 8 • UIC • 7 pm • Klotsche Center
Of Note: Flames have dropped four-straight league contests
Sat. Oct. 11 • @ Youngstown State • 3 pm • Beeghly Center
Of Note: Penguins off to 1-4 start in league play
Sun. Oct. 12 • @ Cleveland State • 1 pm • Woodling Gym
Of Note: Preseason league favorites have struggled early
Printable Weekly Notes
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team looks to bounce back from a disappointing loss at Green Bay during a busy week of action.
The Panthers (10-5, 3-1 Horizon) will play host to Loyola and UIC during the week before playing at Youngstown State and Cleveland State this weekend.
UWM easily won the first two sets in Green Bay Friday night, only to see the Phoenix storm back to capture the next three frames from the Panthers.
• The Week Ahead
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team looks to bounce back from a disappointing loss at Green Bay Friday night during a busy week. The Panthers host Loyola and UIC during the week before playing at Youngstown State and Cleveland State this weekend.
• Scouting The Ramblers
Loyola is one of the surprise teams in the Horizon League this season. After being picked eighth in the preseason poll the Ramblers have bolted to a 13-3 overall record and a 3-1 start in league play. They have developed a balanced offensive attack, with five players already collecting over 100 kills. Loyola will play at Green Bay Monday night before coming to Milwaukee.
• Scouting The Flames
UIC has dropped four-straight league contests after opening the year with a win at Youngstown State. Overall, the Flames have six victories and have won three of their five true road contests this year. Cassie Sullivan leads the offense at 2.86 digs per set and the Flames lead the league in service aces. UIC snapped a three-match losing skid with a win over Quinnipiac in a non-league contest Sunday.
• Scouting The Penguins
Youngstown State has won seven of its 10 non-league contests but is off to a 1-4 start in league play. Middle Ruth Boscaljon leads the Penguins both offensively and defensively, averaging 2.75 kills and 1.11 blocks per set. YSU plays Cleveland State Wednesday before seeing the Panthers Saturday.
• Scouting The Vikings
Cleveland State was the preseason favorite in the Horizon League but has struggled mightly over the first six weeks of the season. CSU won just once in non-league play and then has dropped four of its first five matches in league action. But, the Vikings are still an experienced squad that has nearly every player back from last season's league tournament champs. Plus, Cleveland will be the site of this year's league tourney.
• Wrapping Up The Week Past
UWM looked to be in good shape Friday night in Green Bay, rolling to wins in each of the first two sets. But, the Phoenix quickly seized control of the third set and never looked back in claiming a five-set victory over the Panthers. The win was just the third for Green Bay in the last 32 meetings between the two schools.
• Senior Salute
Becky Peters continues to do her part as the lone senior on UWM's roster. Peters had 16 kills and 25 digs in the loss at Green Bay Friday, meaning she has reached double figures in kills in every match this season while collecting 13 double-doubles. She also became UWM's all-time digs leader two weeks ago and now has 1,687 career digs. The next big mark on her radar is the Horizon League digs record, which stands at 1,742, set by Ann Deelo of Loyola from 2003-2006. On the season, Peters is second in the league in kills and seventh in digs.
• Streak Killer
UWM's loss at Green Bay Friday night snapped a number of notable streaks for the Panthers. Milwaukee had won nine-straight matches over the Phoenix, though UWM has still won 29 of the last 32 meetings between the two schools. The Panthers had also won 16-straight matches in the month of October. Milwaukee is still 92-8 in the month over the last 11-plus seasons. Finally, UWM had won 49-straight matches when winning the first set, a streak that dated back to the beginning of the 2006 campaign.
• Lots And Lots Of Lauren
Lauren Felsing continues to gain recognition as one of the top liberos in the Midwest. She collected a collegiate-best 33 digs in the loss at Green Bay Friday, the second-highest single-match tally in school history. The total also pushed her past 1,000 career digs, with her 1,023 digs placing her eighth on the school's all-time list. She has also reached double figures in digs in 40-straight matches, the fifth-best active streak in the country.
• Diggin' It
The Panthers were expected to be stellar in the back row this season and a large group of players continue to come through. In fact, the Panthers are averaging almost 17 digs per set overall and over 20 digs per set in four league contests. Already this season, the Panthers have outdug Wright State by 30 digs (84-54) and Butler by 27 (95-68). Those two advantages are the biggest in the category for the Panthers since the 1999 season, when UWM outdug Butler by 30 and Loyola by 29. Friday at Green Bay, the Panthers tallied a season-high 103 digs and Milwaukee stands second in the league in digs per set. Plus, the team tally was in the top 20 nationally as of last Thursday's NCAA statistics report.
• And Let's Throw A Block Party, Too
UWM's front row has begun to provide a steady defensive compliment to the strong back row. The Panthers had eight blocks at Green Bay Friday after tying a season-high with 14 blocks in the win over Valparaiso the week before. UWM has reached double figures in blocks five times. Overall, just three opponents (Illinois State, Michigan State and Oregon State) have hit better than .200 against UWM so far this season while 10 others have hit less than .150. For the year, opponents are hitting .142 against the Panthers, the best mark in the league. And, up front, Natalie Schmitting and Maddie Sueppel each rank in the top 10 in the league in blocks per set.
• Listing The League Honors
UWM has had three players honored as players of the week by the Horizon League this season. Lauren Felsing earned recognition as the defensive player of the week after the first week of the season. The highlight of that weekend for Felsing was a 29-dig effort against nationally-ranked Iowa State. Becky Peters then won offensive player of the week honors in mid-September after breaking UWM's all-time digs record while collecting a collegiate-best 24 kills against Oregon State. Finally, Natalie Schmitting won defensive honors last week after averaging 1.88 blocks per set in a pair of league wins.
• Getting Others Involved
One of the other keys to the early-season success a young Panther team has enjoyed is the variety of people stepping up with big performances at key times. Of late, Lauren Hintze, Kellye Zaporski and Sam Trawitzke have been taking turns in the spotlight. Hintze had 14 digs at Green Bay Friday and has reached double figures in four-straight outings. Zaporski, meanwhile, had 17 digs Friday and a collegiate-best 22 digs against Butler a week earlier. Trawitzke, spending time as both a setter and a hitter of late, had 43 assists, seven digs and three kills Friday.
• The Young Ones
UWM is counting on plenty of youth in 2008, with 12 freshmen and sophomores among the 15 active players on the roster. Those youngsters have wasted little time getting involved over the first month-plus. Three different true freshmen (Mary Beth O'Brien, Morgan Potter and Sam Trawitzke) have already earned starts this season, while sophomores Natalie Schmitting and Maddie Sueppel plus redshirt freshman Kerri Schuh have started every match for the Panthers this season. All 14 healthy and available players have made appearances in at least four matches for the Panthers, with only freshman Morgan Kilberger (shoulder injury) yet to see action. The youth is being counted on for offense in particular, with 535 of UWM's 786 kills (68 percent) in the first 15 matches of the season coming from freshmen and sophomores.
• The Early-Season Notebook
UWM's title in the Wingate by Wyndham Invitational marks the third-straight year where the Panthers have won an in-season tournament crown. In all, Milwaukee has won 10 in-season tournaments in the last 12 years and has a 77-42 record during in-season tournaments over that time period ... UWM's win over then-#18 Iowa State Aug. 29 marked the Panthers first win over a ranked for since 1999, when then-#9 Wisconsin left the Klotsche Center a loser. And, it is just Milwaukee's second win over a ranked foe since the Panthers moved to Division I in 1990 ... UWM has now won five-straight matches against teams from the Big East ... UWM has won 10 of its last 14 true road matches and 14 of its last 16 league road contests. If you include neutral-site contests, UWM has won 18 of its last 23 matches away from the Klotsche Center ... Milwaukee has won 12 of its 14 Horizon League openers ... the Panthers have now won 121 of their last 136 home matches overall and have a 31-match home regular season league winning streak.
• Claiming Tourney Honors
Four different UWM players were honored for tournament performances this season. At the Wingate by Wyndham Invitational Sept. 5-6, Becky Peters was named the most outstanding player while Lauren Felsing and Maddie Sueppel joined her on the all-tournament team. Then at the MSU Showcase Sept. 11-12, Felsing and Natalie Schmitting were honored.
• Fighting For Another Title
UWM has been picked to finish third in the Horizon League this season in poll of the league's coaches. The Panthers have won the last five regular season league crowns and are still thought of as a title contender despite losing five seniors from a season ago. Cleveland State was the league preseason favorite with Valparaiso picked second.
• Smart Kids
UWM's academic awards continue to pile up. The team received the AVCA Team Academic Award in July after the Panthers posted a team GPA of 3.411. UWM's success in school extends throughout its roster, as 12 players on last year's team finished the school year with a cume GPA of 3.0 or better and seven of those players posting better than a 3.5 GPA. Following the 2007 season, Leanne Felsing earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Region recognition while Leanne and her sister, Lauren, each earned Horizon League All-Academic honors. Lauren and Becky Peters have also since captured U.S. Army Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors this season.
• Up Next
The Panthers will have a little time to catch their collective breaths, as UWM is off until Oct. 18 when it hosts Wright State at the Klotsche Center.
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