Becky Peters
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Top-Seeded Panthers Set For League Tourney
UWM seeking fifth tourney crown; seventh NCAA bid
Nov. 17, 2008
Fri. Nov. 21 • Quarterfinals • 10:30 am CST • Woodling Gym
Of Note: UWM will face either UIC or Youngstown State
Sat. Nov. 22 • Semifinals • 11:30 am CST • Woodling Gym
Of Note: Panthers have reached semis each year in tourney
Sun. Nov. 23 • Finals • 11 am CST • Woodling Gym
Of Note: UWM looking for seventh title-game appearance
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team carries the top seed into this weekend's Horizon League Tournament in Cleveland.
The Panthers earned that top seed by claiming their sixth-straight league regular season title, which they secured by claiming a pair of road wins this past weekend in Chicago. UWM swept past UIC Friday night before pulling out a hard-fought five-set win at Loyola Saturday.
UWM is seeking its fifth tournament title and its seventh bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers are the top seed for the eighth time and have gotten at least as far as the semifinals in every one of their previous tournament appearances.
Printable Weekly Notes
• The Week Ahead
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team heads to the 2008 Horizon League Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio. The top-seeded Panthers will open play in a quarterfinal match Friday morning.
• Tourney Talk
The Panthers will be playing in their 13th Horizon League Tournament, looking to build on their league-best 17-8 tournament record while holding the top seed for the eighth time. UWM has won four tournament titles and finished second twice, while Milwaukee has made the semifinals in all 12 previous tournaments.
• Looking Back At The Best Weekends
UWM's four league tournament titles have been spread out over the last 11 years, with the Panthers winning the crown in 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2006. In three of those years, Milwaukee beat Loyola in the title match, including a pair of five-set victories (1998 and 2002). The Panthers' most recent title came in 2006 in Dayton, when Milwaukee rolled past Youngstown State (3-0), Green Bay (3-1) and UIC (3-0) to capture the trophy.
• Mulling The Matchups
UWM's side of the tournament bracket includes a potential quarterfinal matchup with either Youngstown State or UIC and a potential semifinal showdown with Loyola or Butler. The Panthers have won their only tournament meeting with YSU and are 2-0 in the league tourney against UIC. UWM swept the regular-season series with both of those teams. Meanwhile, Milwaukee is 4-3 against Loyola and 2-1 against Butler in the postseason. During this regular season, the Panthers swept Loyola and split with Butler. On the other side of the bracket, Milwaukee is 3-1 against Cleveland State, 3-1 vs. Green Bay, 2-0 against Wright State and 0-1 in tournament contests with Valparaiso. UWM swept Cleveland and Wright State this year while splitting with Green Bay and Valpo.
• Wrapping Up The Past Week
The Panthers needed a pair of road wins to wrap up their sixth-straight Horizon League regular season title and they came through. Friday night, UWM claimed a convincing three-set win over UIC. Then Saturday, Milwaukee pulled out a five-set thriller with Loyola. UWM's attack in the middle was the key in both matches, as sophomores Natalie Schmitting and Maddie Sueppel combined for 49 kills in the two victories.
• Summing Up The Regular Season
No one quite knew what to expect from the Panthers in 2008, as they were picked third in the Horizon League after losing five seniors from the record-setting 26-3 squad of 2007. But, Milwaukee served notice on the first weekend of the season it was a force to be reckoned with, as the Panthers knocked off then-#18 Iowa State. UWM wound up claiming seven non-league wins against a difficult slate and carried that momentum into league play. The Panthers started 3-0 and eventually moved to 8-1 before a weekend road trip to Valpo and Butler dropped them back to 8-3. But, UWM bounced back to win its final five league contests.
• Youth = Success
The Panthers' success in 2008 makes it easy to forget just how young of a squad UWM has fielded this season. Twelve of the 16 players on the roster are either freshmen or sophomores, and Milwaukee has just one senior. Among those youngsters, freshman Kerri Schuh and sophomores Natalie Schmitting and Maddie Sueppel have started every match this season. Plus, sophomores Natalie Chery and Lauren Hintze are regulars in the rotation and freshman Samantha Trawitzke has become UWM's main setter. Freshman Melissa Jansen is also now seeing regular playing time off the bench. The youth is being counted on for offense in particular, with 1008 of UWM's 1426 kills (70.7 percent) in 28 matches coming from freshmen and sophomores.
• Winning Ways
The 2008 season has allowed the Panthers to add to their already stellar numbers over the past decade-plus. Milwaukee has now won six-straight outright league titles, something no other league school has ever accomplished. It is also UWM's 10th overall crown, easily the most among league schools. UWM has now won at least 11 league matches for 12-straight seasons while never losing more than three league contests during that same time. In that time span, Milwaukee has built a 146-18 record in regular season league play. UWM has also now pushed its overall win total to 20, which marks its 11th 20-win season in the last 12 years.
• Senior Salute
Becky Peters continues to do her part as the lone senior on UWM's roster. She is already both UWM's and the Horizon League's all-time digs leader and has now moved into fourth on UWM's all-time matches played list (116). Her dig total is up to 1,823 and she has reached double figures in digs in 106 of her 116 career matches. This season, Peters has reached double figures in kills 24 times while recording 19 double-doubles. Entering the league tournament, Peters stands second in the league in kills and ninth in digs. She was UWM's starting libero for the first two years of her career before moving to the outside early last season.
• Lots And Lots Of Lauren
Lauren Felsing continues to gain recognition as one of the top liberos in the Midwest, earning Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week honors three times this season. In fact, she set a new single-season UWM digs record Nov. 8 in the match with Youngstown State and has 568 so far this year. She has now reached double figures in digs in 53-straight contests, the second-longest active streak in the country. She ranks third in the league in digs per set and she has 1,280 career digs, putting her fourth on UWM's all-time list.
• Also An Academic Honor
Junior Lauren Felsing earned CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V First Team earlier this month and is now in the running for Academic All-America honors. Felsing carries a 3.98 grade-point average in marketing. Felsing has already earned U.S. Army Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Week twice and Scholar-Athlete of the Month honors once this season. She also earned Horizon League All-Academic honors last season. The honors for Felsing are just some of many academic awards for the Panthers in recent months. 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. Plus, Becky Peters also claimed league scholar-athlete of the week honors earlier this year.
• Monsters In The Middle
Maddie Sueppel and Natalie Schmitting have made a major impact on the Panthers' offense late in the season. Sueppel has reached double figures in her last five matches while hitting .375 or better in four of those outings. In all, she has been in double figures in 12 of 16 league contests and in 19 matches overall. Schmitting, meanwhile, has reached double figures in UWM's last three matches, hitting better than .600 in two of those contests. She has reached double figures in kills 11 times overall. For the year, Sueppel ranks second on the team in kills while Schmitting is third, and each player averages nearly one block per set.
• 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 just under 17 digs per set overall and over 18 digs per set in league play, placing UWM second in the league as a team. 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.
• 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 28 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.
• Listing The League Honors
UWM has now had players recognized five times this season as players of the week in the Horizon League. Lauren Felsing has earned defensive player of the week recognition three times, including two weeks ago. Becky Peters won offensive player of the week honors in mid-September after breaking UWM's all-time digs record while collecting 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.
• Other Items In The Notebook
UWM has reached double figures in blocks 10 times this season while holding 14 opponents to less than a .150 hitting clip. The Panthers lead the league in opponent hitting percentage ... Kerri Schuh now has 228 kills, the seventh-best tally by a freshman in school history ... her 79 blocks this season also rank her sixth on that school freshman list ... the Panthers have now won 37-straight home regular season league matches, with their last home regular season league loss coming in 2003 ... UWM's win over then-#18 Iowa State Aug. 29 marked the Panthers first win over a ranked foe 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 18 of its last 22 league road contests ... the Panthers had 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 ... with its win over Green Bay Oct. 31, the Panthers avoided their first three-match league losing streak since 1995 ... 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 ... four different UWM players were honored for tournament performances this season. Becky Peters was named the most outstanding player at Bradley while Lauren Felsing and Maddie Sueppel joined her on the all-tournament team. Then at Michigan State, Felsing and Natalie Schmitting were honored.
• Up Next
The winner this weekend heads to the NCAA Tournament, with those pairings announced Nov. 30.
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