Jan. 21, 2012

Printable Season In Review Notebook

Panther Points
• The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team won 25 matches in 2011.

• Milwaukee qualified for its ninth NCAA Tournament thanks to winning the Horizon League Tournament.

• The Panthers won their second-straight Horizon League regular season title this season and have now won the regular season title four times in five seasons under Susie Johnson and 12 times overall.

• Milwaukee finished the league season unbeaten, becoming the first team to do so since Notre Dame in 1994. UWM has won 25-straight regular season league matches and 17-straight league road matches. The Panthers have also set a school record by winning 18-straight matches.

• Kerri Schuh was named the Horizon League Player of the Year for the second time while Kayla Price was named the newcomer of the year and Susie Johnson the coach of the year. Four Panthers made the all-league team. Then, Schuh and Rachel Neuberger earned AVCA All-Region recognition and both players were named honorable mention All-Americans.

• 2011 Year In Review
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team posted yet another successful season in 2011, winning 25 matches and the Horizon League title.

• Champions Again!
UWM clinched the outright league title and hosting rights for the 2011 league tournament with three weeks still left in the season. The championship was the 12th regular season crown for Milwaukee, which has now won either the regular season or tournament title for 15-straight years. UWM has also won eight of the last nine league regular season crowns. The Panthers have won four regular season titles in five seasons under Susie Johnson.

• What About Going Unbeaten?
Even though Milwaukee had already clinched the league title, UWM knew it had plenty to play for over the final weekend of the regular season. The Panthers claimed two more wins and became the first league school to go unbeaten during the regular season since 1994. Notre Dame went 10-0 in the then-Midwestern Collegiate Conference in `94 and left the league the next year. Since that time, only UWM and Loyola had gone through the league slate with just one loss before Milwaukee's unbeaten run this year.

• Recapping The Postseason
The Panthers followed up their impressive regular season with a pair of three-set sweeps en route to the Horizon League Tournament title. Milwaukee beat Valparaiso in a competitive match in the semifinals before UWM dispatched second-seeded Cleveland State in the finals. The Panthers have now won seven tournament titles and finished second twice. UWM then put quite a scare into one of the top teams in the nation before bowing out of the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers led much of the way in the second set and were tied late in the third set at Iowa State before falling, 25-19, 25-23, 25-23.

• Winning ... Winning ... Winning
This season has added to an incredible legacy of success for Panther volleyball. UWM finished with 25 wins, marking the 14th 20-win season in the last 16 years. In league play, Milwaukee has won at least 10 league matches for 15-straight seasons and, in addition to this year's unbeaten run, has gone through the league slate with just one loss eight times. In fact, since the league expanded to a 16-match schedule in 2007, UWM has had a 16-win season, a pair of 15-win seasons and two seasons of 13 wins. UWM is 187-25 in league matches over the last 15 seasons.

• Streaking
There is a lot more to mention about the Panthers' perfect 16-0 Horizon League record during the 2011 season.

- UWM has actually now won 25-straight and 39 of its last 40 regular season league contests. Milwaukee has won 17-straight league road matches.

- Adding in the two league tournament wins, Milwaukee won 18-straight matches overall before falling in the NCAA Tournament, setting a new school record. The old record was 15, set in 2006, and the previous best under Susie Johnson was 14-straight in 2007.

- Milwaukee set a school record with six-straight 3-set wins during this winning streak. In fact, when the Panthers dropped the first set to Valpo Oct. 5, it marked the first set they had lost since Sept. 16. UWM had five-straight 3-set wins in 2006. The Panthers won nine of their 16 league matches in straight-sets and lost just nine sets during the regular season.

• League Honors
UWM was well represented when the Horizon League released its awards. The Panthers claimed three of the four major honors, as Kerri Schuh was named player of the year, Kayla Price the newcomer of the year and Susie Johnson the coach of the year. In all, UWM placed four players on the all-league team, with Schuh joined by Morgan Potter, Elizabeth Egerer and Rachel Neuberger. Price also earned a spot on the all-newcomer team. This was the first time since 2006 UWM has placed four players on the all-league team while Panther players have won league player of the year honors nine times and newcomer of the year accolades eight times. Then, after the Panthers won the league tournament, Egerer was named tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Julie Kolinske and Price.

• National Honors
Kerri Schuh and Rachel Neuberger were named American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Midwest Region and Honorable Mention All-Americans. Schuh was honored for a second-straight year while Neuberger is a first-time honoree. Schuh is just the second two-time Division I Volleyball All-American in school history, joining Leanne Felsing, who won honors in 2006 and 2007. Meanwhile, Neuberger is the first-ever Panther sophomore to win national accolades.

• Classroom Excellence
Rachel Neuberger was named to the Capital One Academic All-District volleyball team. The sophomore has a 3.86 grade-point average and is a regular on the UWM Dean's List and Horizon League Honor Roll. This marks the seventh time in the last nine years a UWM player has earned academic all-region honors. Cheryl Hegemann (2005 and 2006) and Lauren Felsing (2008 and 2009) were each honored twice, while Karen Fruit was honored in 2003 and Leanne Felsing claimed the honor in 2007.

• Senior Salute
A large group of Panther seniors saw their volleyball careers come to an end in 2011. The senior class included Kerri Schuh, Morgan Potter, Mary Beth O'Brien, Melissa Jansen, Samantha Trawitzke and Mackenzie Millis. Schuh has actually been in the program five years after redshirting her first season, while the other five are all four-year players for Milwaukee. All six were in the Panthers' starting lineup at some point in their career and all played in at least 60 matches.

• D ... D ... D ... Defense
Defense has traditionally been a big key for Milwaukee and it continued to come through in 2011. In the league tournament, Valpo hit just .087 while Cleveland State hit only .102. During the season, UWM reached double figures in blocks 13 times and held an opponent under a .150 hitting percentage 18 times. UWM finished with three of the top five in the league in the blocks chart, while Panthers players claimed league defensive player of the week honors three times (Morgan Potter twice and Mackenzie Millis once).

• More From The Notebook
According to the final NCAA statistics, UWM ranked 34th nationally in kills, 48th in blocks and 46th in assists. Individually, Kayla Price was 43rd in assists with Morgan Potter 70th in digs. Rachel Neuberger (71st) and Mackenzie Millis (91st) finished in the top 100 in blocks ... the Panthers have now won 19 of their last 25 true road matches ... the Panthers are 38-2 in home regular season league contests under Susie Johnson and 72-13 at home against league opponents overall ... Youngstown State hit negative in its first matchup with the Panthers in 2011, the first time since 2007 UWM held a league opponent to a negative hitting clip ... UWM's championship at the Drake Invitational marked the first in-season tournament title by the Panthers since the 2008 season ... UWM had 10 service aces in its win at Youngstown State, the first time it has reached double figures in the category since it had 11 against Alcorn State in 2009 ... this was the first time the Panthers reached double figures in aces in a league match since 2008.