Five Panther Players Honored By League; Johnson Named Coach Of The Year
Nov. 19, 2008
MILWAUKEE - Susie Johnson was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year while the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team landed three players on the all-league team and two more players on the league's all-newcomer team in awards announced today by the league office. Senior Becky Peters, junior Lauren Felsing and sophomore Maddie Sueppel all earned spots on the 14-person All-Horizon League team, while redshirt freshman Kerri Schuh and true freshman Samantha Trawitzke captured spots on the newcomer squad. Plus, Johnson won the league coach of the year award for the second time in her two seasons as the head coach at Milwaukee. The group has combined this season to lead UWM to 20 wins, its sixth-straight Horizon League regular season title and the top seed for this weekend's Horizon League Tournament in Cleveland. Johnson has now led the Panthers to 46 wins in two seasons, capturing the regular season league title each of those years. This season Johnson has directed a squad that includes 12 freshmen and sophomores to the top of the league standings while helping UWM win at least 20 matches for the 11th time in the last 12 years. Overall, Johnson is 28-4 in regular season Horizon League matches over her two seasons and has not lost a league regular season match at home. She also owns wins over teams from the Big 12, Big East and ACC in her two seasons. Peters is the all-time digs leader for both UWM and the Horizon League, totaling 1,823 entering play this weekend. In all, she has been in double figures in digs in 106 of her 116 career matches. Offensively, she has reached double figures in kills in 24 of 28 matches this season while recording 19 double-doubles. She earned league offensive player of the week honors Sept. 22 and was also named the most valuable player at the Wingate by Wyndham Invitational Plus, Peters is up to fourth on UWM's all-time matches-played list.
Sueppel has been coming on strong late in the season. The middle blocker has reached double figures in kills in each of her last five outings while hitting .375 or better in four of those contests. In all, she has reached double figures in kills 19 times, including in 12 of 16 league matches. She has also hit .300 or better 13 times, with seven efforts of .400 or better. Defensively, she has collected five or more blocks 10 times. One of her best performances came early in the season, when she tallied a collegiate-best 21 kills against then-#18 Iowa State, and she also earned all-tournament honors at the Wingate by Wyndham Invitational. Entering this weekend, Felsing has reached double-figures in digs in 53-straight matches, the second-longest streak in the nation. She is a three-time winner of the Horizon League's Defensive Player of the Week honor and earned a spot on the all-tournament team at both the Wingate by Wyndham Invitational and the Michigan State Showcase. This season's dig tally of 568 is already a UWM school record and she has collected 20 or more digs 14 times this year. She now has 1,280 career digs, placing her fourth on UWM's all-time list. Schuh has started every match for the Panthers as a redshirt freshman. She has reached double figures in kills eight times and tallied four or more blocks 11 times. Schuh now has 228 kills this season, the seventh-best tally by a freshman in school history. She also has 79 blocks, which rank her sixth on that school freshman list. Trawitzke has emerged as UWM's primary setter during the latter portion of the season as the Panthers have varied between a 5-1 and 6-2 throughout much of the year. She has collected 30 or more assists 11 times and added eight or more digs 12 times. Two of her most notable efforts in the league include a seven-kill, 32-assist outing vs. Butler and a six-kill, 31-assist evening against UIC. UWM is now turning its attention toward this weekend's Horizon League Tournament. The top-seeded Panthers will open play Friday morning against either eighth-seeded UIC or ninth-seeded Youngstown State. Those two teams meet Thursday night in a first round match. |
