Susie Johnson has the Panthers atop the Horizon League
|
|
First-Place Panthers Look To Continue Roll
Crosstown rival, key league road swing ahead this week
Oct. 19, 2008
Mon. Oct. 20 • @ Marquette • 7 pm • Al McGuire Center
Of Note: Golden Eagles fell to Syracuse in five sets Saturday
Fri. Oct. 24 • @ Valparaiso • 7 pm • ARC
Of Note: Crusaders have bounced back from 0-3 league start
Sat. Oct. 25 • @ Butler • 3 pm • Hinkle Fieldhouse
Of Note: Bulldogs have dropped three of last four
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team looks to continue its winning ways during three road matches this week.
The Panthers (15-5, 8-1 Horizon) have won five-straight contests after a three-set sweep of second place Wright State Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center. Milwaukee now has a three-match lead atop the league standings with just seven league outings remaining.
UWM faces a difficult week ahead, with a crosstown battle against Marquette Monday followed by road matches at Valparaiso and Butler this weekend. Both the Crusaders and Bulldogs enter the week with four league losses and are part of a three-way tie for second place in the loss column of the league standings.
Meanwhile, Monday's game will air on Time Warner Sports.
Printable Weekly Notes
• The Week Ahead
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team faces three road matches this week, heading across town to take on Marquette Monday before traveling to Indiana for contests with Valparaiso and Butler Friday and Saturday.
• Scouting The Golden Eagles
Marquette is 7-11 overall and 2-4 in Big East play entering Monday's non-league contest with UWM. The Golden Eagles dropped a five-set decision to Syracuse Saturday, their fourth-straight loss. Ashlee Fisher averages more than four kills per set to lead the offense.
• Scouting The Crusaders
Valparaiso has bounced back nicely from an 0-3 start in league play and starts the week in a three-way tie in the loss column for second place in the league standings. Angie Porche continues to lead the Horizon League in kills while Brittany Malicoat stands third in the league in digs. Valpo will play IUPUI Tuesday before welcoming UWM to town Friday.
• Scouting The Bulldogs
Butler has dropped three of its last four matches to drop to 5-4 in league play after a strong 4-1 start. Jessica Wolfe and Porshia Allen lead the Bulldog offense, with both players averaging more than three kills per set. Butler is hitting .216 as a team. Green Bay will visit Indianapolis Friday before the Panthers come to town.
• Wrapping Up The Past Week
Maddie Sueppel had 13 kills and Kerri Schuh added nine as UWM won its only match of the week, a 25-19, 27-25, 25-21 win over second-place Wright State Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center. The Panthers swept the season series with the Raiders behind a balanced offensive attack and a defense that limited Wright State to a .132 hitting percentage. Natalie Schmitting added seven kills, Natalie Chery six and Becky Peters five for Milwaukee, which has won 34-straight home regular season league matches. Kellye Zaporski had 30 assists and four kills in directing the offense.
• Senior Salute
Becky Peters continues to do her part as the lone senior on UWM's roster. Her latest milestone came in Saturday's win over Wright State, when she tallied nine digs to become the Horizon League's all-time digs leader. She now has 1,745 digs, passing the 1,742 digs Ann Deelo of Loyola collected from 2003-2006. She became UWM's all-time digs leader earlier this season and is the only Panther in the school's Division I history to surpass 1,700 digs. Peters did see her streaks of consecutive matches in double figures for kills (19) and consecutive double-doubles (11) snapped Saturday.
• Lots And Lots Of Lauren
Lauren Felsing continues to gain recognition as one of the top liberos in the Midwest. She has already been named the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week twice this season, including a week ago when she averaged 6.44 digs per set in UWM's four victories. Plus, she had just two receiving errors in 131 attempts, a 98.5 percent success ratio. Felsing has now reached double figures in digs in 45-straight contests, tied for the third-longest active streak in the country. On the season, she ranks second in the league and 10th in the country in digs per set. And, she has 1,146 career digs, pushing her up to seventh on UWM's all-time list.
• Diggin' It
The Panthers expected to be strong in the back row and a large group of players have made that come true. The Panthers are averaging more than 17 digs per set overall and just under 20 digs per set in league play. 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. UWM leads the league and stands sixth in the country in digs per set.
• 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 in their three-set win over Wright State Saturday and have hit double digits in blocks eight times this season. Overall, just three opponents (Illinois State, Michigan State and Oregon State) have hit better than .200 against UWM so far this season while 12 others have hit less than .150. For the year, opponents are hitting .145 against the Panthers. Up front, Natalie Schmitting and Maddie Sueppel each rank in the top 10 in the league in blocks.
• Listing The League Honors
In addition to Lauren Felsing being honored by the league last Monday, UWM has had players recognized three other times this season as players of the week in the Horizon League. Felsing also 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 Sept. 29 after averaging 1.88 blocks per set in a pair of league wins.
• Getting Others Involved
One of the other keys to the success a young Panther team has enjoyed this season is the variety of people stepping up with big performances at key times. Saturday, Kerri Schuh and Kellye Zaporski each stepped forward with solid performances. Zaporski directed the Panthers offense effectively, collecting 30 assists while adding four kills and 15 digs. Schuh, meanwhile, had nine kills and three blocks, the sixth time in nine league contests she has collected at least eight kills. The contributions of defense specialist Lauren Hintze can also not be overlooked, as she has reached double figures in digs in 10 of her last 12 outings.
• Serving Up A Winner
UWM's performance at the service line can be identified as another key to the Panthers' success. Milwaukee has 104 aces to just 115 errors this season, compared to its opponents 81 aces and 156 errors. The Panthers have a 93.7 percent success ratio serving, while in serve-receive libero Lauren Felsing has just 17 receive errors in 565 opportunities (97.0 percent).
• 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 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 five 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 715 of UWM's 1044 kills (68 percent) in 20 matches 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 won five-straight matches against teams from the Big East ... UWM has won 12 of its last 16 true road matches and 16 of its last 18 league road contests. If you include neutral-site contests, UWM has won 20 of its last 25 matches away from the Klotsche Center ... Milwaukee has won 12 of its 14 Horizon League openers ... the Panthers have now won 124 of their last 139 home matches overall and have a 34-match home regular season league winning streak ... Milwaukee is now 97-8 in October over the last 11-plus season ... UWM had won 16-straight matches in October until the loss at Green Bay Oct. 3 ... the Panthers had also won 49-straight matches when winning the first set until losing at Green Bay after leading 2-0. That streak dated back to the beginning of the 2006 campaign.
• 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 was 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, while Felsing was also named the league's scholar-athlete of the month for September.
• Up Next
The Panthers play just one match next week, hosting Green Bay Friday night at 7 p.m.
|
