Natalie Schmitting
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First-Place Panthers Wrap Up Home Slate
Large pack of teams looking to chase down UWM
Nov. 3, 2008
Fri. Nov. 7 • Cleveland State • 7 pm • Klotsche Center
Of Note: Preseason favorites looking for strong finish
Sat. Nov. 8 • Youngstown State • 2 pm • Klotsche Center
Of Note: Penguins trying to avoid 8-9 league tourney match
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team wraps up the home portion of its 2008 schedule with a pair of league matches this weekend. The Panthers will host Cleveland State Friday night before facing off with Youngstown State Saturday afternoon.
Milwaukee begins play this week atop the Horizon League standings. Valparaiso is one match back of the Panthers in the loss column while a pair of five-loss teams (Wright State and Butler) also still harbor hopes of claiming the league crown. UWM snapped a three-match losing streak with a sweep of Green Bay Friday night. The Panthers hit .297 in the contest and landed three players in double figures in kills.
Cleveland State was the league preseason favorite but has struggled to a 5-8 league mark. Youngstown State, meanwhile, has three league victories.
Printable Weekly Notes
• The Week Ahead
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team wraps up the home portion of its 2008 schedule by hosting Cleveland State and Youngstown State this weekend at the Klotsche Center.
• Scouting The Vikings
Cleveland State was picked to win the Horizon League but has struggled through much of the 2008 season. But the Vikings are now looking for a late surge to carry them into the Horizon League Tournament, which will be played on their home floor. Five players average better than two kills per set while Jordan Bateman leads the defense with 4.14 digs per frame. The Vikings have gone 4-5 in their last nine outings after starting the season 2-12.
• Scouting The Penguins
Youngstown State is fighting to stay out of the eight vs. nine first round match in the Horizon League Tournament, with a key match in that fight looming Friday night in Green Bay. Ruth Boscaljon leads the Penguins in both kills and blocks while Karla Everhart tops the squad in digs.
• Wrapping Up The Past Week
The Panthers had just one match but did exactly what they needed to do, snapping a three-match losing streak with a 3-0 win over Green Bay Friday night at the Klotsche Center. Milwaukee placed three players in double figures in kills while hitting .297 for the match. The win avenged a loss to the Phoenix earlier in the season in which the Panthers won the first two sets before dropping the final three.
• Getting Back On Track
Friday's win over Green Bay snapped a three-match losing streak by the Panthers. It allowed Milwaukee to avoid its first four-match slide since 2004, when the Panthers actually dropped five-straight. UWM also avoided suffering three-straight league losses for the first time since 1995.
• Good Looking Stats
UWM bounced back in a variety of ways during its three-set win over Green Bay Friday night. The Panthers' .297 hitting clip marked its second-best tally of the season, trailing only the .318 mark Milwaukee posted in a September win over Florida A&M. Overall, UWM put together a much-improved statline offensively compared to its three-match losing streak.
Oct. 20-25 Oct. 31 Diff.
Kills Per Set 11.00 15.00 +4.00
Hitting Pct. .122 .297 +.175
Hitting Errors Per Set 6.38 3.33 -3.05
• The Stretch Run
UWM finds itself on top of the pack in its quest for a sixth-straight Horizon League regular season title. With each team still in the title chase having played a different number of matches, the easiest way to break down the race is to look at the number of losses, and the number of matches remaining, for each team. The Panthers start the second-to-last weekend of the regular season with three league losses and four matches remaining, while Valparaiso has four league losses and three matches left. Wright State has five losses and just two contests remaining while Butler has five league losses and three matches left.
• Freshman Records
It's now late enough in the year that some of the Panthers' new faces are making their way into the UWM freshman record book. Kerri Schuh has 200 kills, placing her seventh on the freshman list. She also has 72 blocks, placing her seventh on that list. Meanwhile, Samantha Trawitzke has collected 538 assists, putting her fifth on the freshman list in that category.
• Senior Salute
Becky Peters continues to do her part as the lone senior on UWM's roster. She is already both UWM and the Horizon League's all-time digs leader and has now moved up to sixth on UWM's all-time matches played list (112). Her dig total is up to 1,786, with her already the only Panther in Division I school history to surpass 1,700 digs. On the season, she stands second in the league in kills and eighth in the league in digs.
• 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 three weeks ago when she averaged 6.44 digs per set in four UWM victories. Felsing has now reached double figures in digs in 49-straight contests, the third-longest active streak in the country. On the season, she ranks third in the league in digs per set. And, she has 1,216 career digs, pushing her up to fourth on UWM's all-time list. She is also on pace for the best single-season for digs in UWM history.
• 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 still averaging more than 17 digs per set overall and over 19 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 is second in the league 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 Green Bay Friday and have reached double figures in blocks nine times this season. Overall, just five opponents (Illinois State, Michigan State, Oregon State, Marquette and Green Bay) 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 .156 against the Panthers.
• Listing The League Honors
UWM has had players recognized four times this season as players of the week in the Horizon League. Lauren Felsing has earned defensive player of the week recognition twice, including 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 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. UWM has had 12 different players earn at least one start, while four players (Becky Peters, Maddie Sueppel, Natalie Schmitting and Lauren Felsing) have started all 24 matches. Meanwhile, six different players have at least one double-figure kill match while six different players have at least one double-figure dig outing.
• 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. Four different true freshmen (Mary Beth O'Brien, Morgan Potter, Sam Trawitzke and Melissa Jansen) 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 859 of UWM's 1232 kills (69.7 percent) in 24 matches coming from freshmen and sophomores.
• Other Items In The 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 16 of its last 20 league road contests ... Milwaukee has won 12 of its 14 Horizon League openers ... the Panthers have now won 125 of their last 140 home matches overall and have a 35-match home regular season league winning streak ... Milwaukee is now 98-11 in October over the last 12 seasons ... 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.
• 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, while Felsing was also named the league's scholar-athlete of the month for September.
• Up Next
UWM wraps up the regular season with a pair of matches in Chicago, playing at UIC Friday and at Loyola Saturday.
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