Oct. 10, 2012
Fri. Oct. 12 • 7 p.m. CST • vs. Wright State (2-20, 0-5)
Klotsche Center • Milwaukee, Wis.
Raiders are 0-7 on the road
Sat. Oct. 13 • 4 p.m. CST • vs. Valparaiso (10-9, 2-2)
Klotsche Center • Milwaukee, Wis.
Crusaders own wins over Indiana, Illinois State
Printable Volleyball Notebook
The Last Meeting
October 21, 2011
Dayton, Ohio
Panthers Ride Strong Offense, Defense To Three-Set Sweep At Wright State
Elizabeth Egerer had 14 kills and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee hit .407 as a team in claiming a 25-17, 25-8, 25-14 win over Wright State Friday night at McLin Gymnasium. The win is the 11th-straight for the Panthers (18-4, 11-0 Horizon), who have also won 20-straight regular season league matches dating back to last season.
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The Last Meeting
November 19, 2011
Klotsche Center
Defense Sparks Panthers To League Semifinal Sweep Of Valpo
Elizabeth Egerer had 12 kills and Rachel Neuberger added 10 as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee advanced to the championship of the Horizon League Volleyball Tournament with a 25-21, 28-26, 25-17 win over Valparaiso Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center. The Panthers (24-4), who have now won a school-record 17-straight matches, will face either Cleveland State or Butler in the title match Sunday at 1 p.m.
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Panther Points
• The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team returns to the friendly confines of the Klotsche Center for a pair of matches this weekend. UWM will host Wright State Friday night before Valparaiso visits Saturday afternoon.
• The Panthers dropped a pair of five-set heartbreakers this past weekend in Chicago.
• Milwaukee has now played in three-straight 5-set matches and seven overall this season. Six of UWM's 11 losses have come in five sets, including two of their three league defeats.
• UWM continues to battle through injury problems this season and the list grew even longer Saturday. All-league setter Kayla Price was already out for the year with a hand injury while Taylor Golabowski is still sidelined by a hand injury. Kill-leader Julie Kolinske then did not play against UIC because of injury.
• Milwaukee continues to get good performances from its three veteran players. Elizabeth Egerer had 38 kills in two matches this weekend, including an impressive 20-kill, 14-dig double-double at UIC. Rachel Neuberger also reached double figures in kills in both matches of the weekend while Anna Bartz had 31 digs at UIC.
• The Week Ahead
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team returns to the friendly confines of the Klotsche Center for a pair of weekend matches. Wright State comes to town Friday night before Valparaiso visits Saturday afternoon.
• Scouting Notebook
Wright State is just 2-20 overall and 0-5 in the Horizon League ... the Raiders are also winless in seven true road matches ... WSU's two wins came over Saint Peters and Chicago State ... all-league performer Heidi Splinter is averaging better than three kills and three digs per set ... UWM has won five in a row and 19 of its last 20 against Wright State ... Valparaiso enters the weekend 11-9 overall and 3-2 in league play ... the Crusaders own impressive non-league wins against Indiana and Illinois State ... VU boasts a balanced offense while league defensive player of the year Taylor Root averages better than five digs per set to lead the defense ... UWM has won seven of its last eight meetings with Valparaiso, including three wins a season ago.
• Looking Back
Milwaukee dropped a pair of five-set heartbreakers in Chicago this weekend. Friday night at Loyola, the Panthers won the first and third sets to go ahead in the match but then had as many kills as errors over the final two frames. Elizabeth Egerer had 18 kills to lead three Panthers in double figures. Then Saturday at UIC, UWM again was up two sets to one but the Flames struck back to win the last two frames. Egerer had 20 kills to spark Milwaukee's offense while Anna Bartz had a collegiate-best 31 digs to lead the defensive efforts.
• The Injury Bug
It's getting hard to ignore the fact Milwaukee seems to find itself more and more shorthanded as the season moves along. The latest addition to the injury list was kill-leader Julie Kolinske, who missed Saturday's match with UIC. Her absence added to a list that already included all-league setter Kayla Price and back-row standout Taylor Golabowski. Price suffered a hand injury midway through the match at Marquette Sept. 15 and is now done for the season following surgery. Meanwhile, Golabowski injured her hand during practice the second week of the regular season and has been sidelined while recovering.
• Working Overtime
UWM played a pair of five-set matches this past weekend in Chicago and that is nothing new for the Panthers. In fact, Milwaukee has now played seven 5-set matches this season, including three-straight in league play. The five-setters haven't gone the way of the Panthers, though, as UWM is 1-6 in 5-set contests this year. That's quite a change from recent seasons, as Milwaukee entered this year 25-12 in five-set matches under Susie Johnson. Plus, the seven 5-setters have UWM threatening the school record of 11 five-set contests, set in 1998.
• Nice Numbers In The Back
Senior Anna Bartz is piling up some big numbers as UWM's libero this season. She tallied a collegiate-high 31 digs in the loss to UIC Saturday and has also posted a pair of 26-dig outings in league play. On the year, she is leading the team with 4.38 digs per set. She has 881 career digs - keeping her on pace to pass 1,000 for her career - while she has also reached double-figures in digs 40 times in her career.
• A Good Boost For The Block
Sophomore Amber Simonton has earned the first three starts of her career over the last two weekends as coach Susie Johnson adjusted her lineup to try to improve UWM's blocking efforts. The move has worked, as Simonton has collected 17 blocks over the three matches and the Panthers have tallied 37 as a team. That helped boost UWM to 1.93 blocks per set overall, with the Panthers now averaging 2.41 blocks per set in league play.
• Setting Up Success
An injury also means an opportunity for someone else to step forward and sophomore Hannah Blanchard plans on doing just that. Blanchard has made her first five collegiate starts at setter as league play has gotten underway, with the sophomore averaging 10.27 assists per set. Blanchard has been directing a pretty efficient Milwaukee offense, with the Panthers hitting .216 in her five matches as the setter. Blanchard was an all-around performer at Muskego High School and actually had 394 assists as a senior.
• Just Being Julie
There is plenty missing when Julie Kolinske is sidelined by an injury. The sophomore is leading the team in kills, averaging 3.99 kills per set, while she stands second on the team in digs with 3.13 per frame. She has collected 20 or more kills in a match four times this year while she has had a double-double in eight of her last 10 matches. She now has 14 double-doubles this season.
• The New Faces Coming Through
UWM has four true freshmen on its roster and each one of them continues to see playing time. Maisey Mulvey has played in every match this season while Nicole Latzig has played in all but two, with Latzig sitting second on the team in blocks (0.83) while Mulvey is third on the team in digs (2.64). Maggie Dunbar has also played in 13 of 18 matches this season. Plus, Sammi Herron has been in and out of the rotation this season and has four double-figure kill outings as well as a 17-dig effort against Western Michigan. Herron has been part of the regular rotation in all five of UWM's league matches and had 15 kills at UIC Saturday.
• Seniors Leading A Young Squad
Elizabeth Egerer and Anna Bartz make up this year's two-person senior class, small compared to the six-person group the Panthers boasted a season ago. The duo actually tops a very young roster that has just one junior, meaning 10 of this year's 13 Panthers are freshmen or sophomores. Egerer and Bartz have combined to appear in 163 matches so far in Panther uniforms, with Egerer here the last two seasons after transferring from Michigan State while Bartz has spent the last three seasons in Milwaukee.
• But Not Much Experience Now
The inexperience of the Panthers this season was never more clear than it was Saturday at UIC. Five of the nine players that got on the court for Milwaukee had not appeared in a collegiate volleyball match before this season, while a sixth (Hannah Blanchard) had played one-half of a collegiate match at her current position before three weeks ago. Saturday's starters included true freshmen Sammi Herron and Maggie Dunbar along with sophomore Amber Simonton, who did not play in her first two seasons in Milwaukee.
• League Picks
UWM was picked to repeat as champions of the league in a preseason poll of the league's coaches while three Panthers earned a spot on the preseason all-league team. The Panthers claimed seven first-place votes and 49 points while senior Elizabeth Egerer, junior Rachel Neuberger and sophomore Kayla Price were named to the seven-person squad.
• Talking Streaks
UWM's lengthy and impressive Horizon League winning streak is over, but the Panthers still boast a long list of impressive winning numbers. The loss to Cleveland State two weeks ago snapped a 26-match regular season league winning streak but UWM has still won 41 of its last 45 regular season league contests. Plus, in league play, Milwaukee has won at least 10 league matches for 15-straight seasons. UWM is 188-28 in league matches over the last 15-plus seasons.
