Oct. 23, 2012

Fri. Oct. 26 • 7 p.m. CST • @ Green Bay (11-11, 3-6 Horizon)
Kress Events Center • Green Bay, Wis.
Panthers and Phoenix enter match tied for fifth in league;
UWM claimed five-set win in Milwaukee in September

Printable Weekly Notebook

Panther Points
• The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team continues a stretch of three-straight road matches with a Friday night contest at Green Bay. The Panthers will enter the match tied with the Phoenix and Youngstown State for fifth place.

• The Panthers dropped a pair of road matches in Ohio this past weekend. UWM struggled from start to finish in a three-set loss to Cleveland State Friday night before Milwaukee dropped a four-setter at Youngstown State Saturday afternoon.

• One day after recording just 11 total kills in its loss to Cleveland State, Milwaukee landed three players in double figures in kills against Youngstown State. Elizabeth Egerer, Julie Kolinske and Rachel Neuberger all reached double digits in the contest. Combined, the trio has posted 99 double-figure kill outings this season.

• Milwaukee has played 5-sets in four of its last seven matches and eight times overall this season. Half of UWM's losses have come in five sets.

• UWM's injury situation brightened slightly this past weekend, as Taylor Golabowski returned to the rotation in Ohio. She had been sidelined since August with a broken hand. Meanwhile, all-league setter Kayla Price is out for the year with a hand injury she suffered in mid-September.

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• The Week Ahead
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team wraps up a stretch of three-straight road matches with a Friday night contest at Green Bay.

• Scouting Notebook
Green Bay enters this Friday's match tied with Milwaukee and Youngstown State for fifth place in the league standings ... the Phoenix split its two matches in Ohio this past weekend, beating Youngstown State in a five-set thriller Friday night before being swept by Cleveland State Saturday ... Green Bay has four players averaging 2.46 kills per set or more, while as a team the Phoenix is hitting .206 ... UWM has won nine in a row in the series ... the Panthers have also won 18 of the last 19 meetings ... Green Bay's last win in the series came in 2008 in Green Bay, though last year's match at the Kress Events Center went five sets.

• The First Matchup
Julie Kolinske had 22 kills and UWM played error-free volleyball in the deciding fifth set to claim a 25-18, 25-22, 14-25, 19-25, 15-7 win over Green Bay Sept. 28 at the Klotsche Center. The Panthers had 11 kills without an error in the fifth frame, bolting to leads of 5-0 and 10-3 in claiming the victory. UWM also got 18 kills and 14 digs from Elizabeth Egerer while Rachel Neuberger contributed 11 kills. Milwaukee tallied 12 blocks as a team, including six from Amber Simonton, while Anna Bartz led the back row efforts with 26 digs. Monica Anderson had 20 kills to lead Green Bay.

• Looking Back At The Weekend
Milwaukee dropped a pair of matches in Ohio this weekend. The Panthers were overwhelmed by Cleveland State Friday night before dropping a hard-fought four-set battle with Youngstown State Saturday afternoon. Against the Vikings, UWM tallied just 11 kills in the match while collecting 27 hitting errors. Milwaukee hit -.154 for the match. Saturday against the Penguins, Milwaukee was beaten by late surges in the third and fourth sets. UWM put three players in double figures, led by 17 kills from Elizabeth Egerer.

• Offensive Bounceback
One day after recording just 11 total kills in its loss to Cleveland State, Milwaukee landed three players in double figures in kills against Youngstown State. Elizabeth Egerer, Julie Kolinske and Rachel Neuberger all reached double digits in the contest. Combined, the trio has posted 99 double-figure kill outings this season.

• Working Overtime
UWM has been pushed to the limit a number of times this season. The Panthers have now played eight 5-set matches this season, including four of their last seven league contests. The five-setters haven't gone the way of the Panthers, though, as UWM is 1-7 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 eight 5-setters have UWM threatening the school record of 11 five-set contests, set in 1998.

• The Injury Bug
It's getting hard to ignore the fact Milwaukee seems to find itself noticeably shorthanded as the season moves along. The situation got slightly better for Milwaukee this past weekend, as Taylor Golabowski returned from a seven-week absence to play some in the back row. Golabowski had broken her hand in practice in late August. But, all-league setter Kayla Price is out for the season. She suffered a hand injury midway through the match at Marquette Sept. 15 and is now done for the season following surgery.

• Nice Numbers In The Back
Senior Anna Bartz is piling up some big numbers as UWM's libero this season. She has posted three 26-dig outings plus a 31-dig effort in league play. On the year, she is leading the team with 4.34 digs per set. She has 947 career digs - keeping her on pace to pass 1,000 for her career - while she has also reached double-figures in digs 43 times in her career.

• Just Being Julie
Julie Kolinske continues to put together a stellar sophomore season. The outside hitter is leading the team in kills, averaging 3.77 kills per set, while she stands second on the team in digs with 3.25 per frame. She has collected 20 or more kills in a match four times this year and has posted a pair of 20-plus-dig outings. Kolinske now has had a double-double in 10 of her last 14 matches and she has 16 double-doubles this season.

• 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 171 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.

• Honors List
Rachel Neuberger put together the best blocking weekend in Milwaukee volleyball history two weeks ago and it helped her earn Horizon League Volleyball Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors. Neuberger tallied 27 total blocks in the two matches, averaging three blocks per set in the contests against Wright State and Valparaiso. She had 10 blocks in UWM's win over the Raiders on Friday and followed that performance with an individual and league-best 17 blocks in Milwaukee's 3-2 loss to the Crusaders the next day. Neuberger tallied eight solo blocks among her 27 over the weekend, becoming the first Panther since Natalie Schmitting in 2007 to reach double figures in blocks in consecutive matches. She currently sits second in the league in blocks during league-only matches and has posted two of the six double-figure blocking efforts around the league this season. Neuberger is also up to 331 career blocks, a number that is already eighth on the school's all-time list.

• Emptying The Notebook
Amber Simonton has earned the first seven starts of her career over the last four weekends as coach Susie Johnson adjusted her lineup to try to improve UWM's blocking efforts. The move has helped, as Simonton has collected 22 blocks over the seven outings ... Hannah Blanchard has made her first nine collegiate starts at setter in the absence of Kayla Price and is averaging 9.84 assists per frame ... Milwaukee is counting on four true freshmen this season. Maggie Dunbar had 25 kills in two matches two weeks ago and added nine more in the loss at Youngstown State Saturday. Maisey Mulvey has been part of the back row rotation throughout the year and has reached double figures in digs 11 times. Nicole Latzig has also started 15 matches while Sammi Herron has 81 kills in 47 sets ... 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 ... 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 a month ago snapped a 26-match regular season league winning streak but UWM has still won 42 of its last 49 regular season league contests. Milwaukee is 189-31 in league matches over the last 15-plus seasons.