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Post by skrapheap on Aug 25, 2011 14:08:45 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Sept 6, 2011 7:34:17 GMT -6
Home opener tonight.
uwmpanthers.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/090511aab.html
After a 5-1 start in their first two tournaments (the tourney last weekend featured four teams (counting UWM) who finished with 20 victories last season), the Panthers open the home portion of the non-league season tonight in the Klotsche arena, against Northern Illinois, who is off to a 6-2 start to the 2011 season. Kerri Schuh has been a HL player of the week for the first three weeks of the season.
Should be fun.
The Panthers then host their own tournament this weekend.
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Post by skrapheap on Sept 30, 2011 18:29:54 GMT -6
Big early season matchup tonight in Cleveland, against the only other HL squad undefeated in league play.
The Panthers got off to a hot start, only to have a very good Viking squad put together a late run to tie the set at 20. The Panthers went up 23-20. The teams then traded points to put the Panthers at set point at 24-21. It took the Panthers three tries to put the set away 25-23. Typical Milwaukee-Cleveland State volleyball. Milwaukee hit over .300 and held the Vikings under .200, but it was still a two point victory.
Set two saw Cleveland State start much stronger. taking several one point leads. The teams traded both points and the lead repeatedly, with the margin staying within a point or two. The set featured five lead changes and 12 ties until Milwaukee stretched the lead to 20-17, then 23-18 after a tremendous save on a deep serve and then a hard kill. The Panthers had their first set point at 24-19. The Panthers closed out the set on a long rally, 25-20.
The third set started out like the second set, with Milwaukee again pulling away at the end, winning 25-20 to take the match in three sets.
The Panthers hit a solid .243 for the match, holding the Vikings to a .136 percentage. The Panthers were outdug, which doesn't happen very often, but did much better with blocking, 18-12 in team blocks.
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 6, 2011 7:53:08 GMT -6
The bad news: the Panthers' streak of 3-set victories is over at 6. The good news: the Panthers took Valpo's best shots for two sets, then settled in and won three sets to win the match.
Elizabeth Egerer's performance was huge, as she finished with 23 kills for the match. Over and over again in the third, fourth and fifth sets she came through with a timely kill.
This was a tough match, and, with the victory, the Panthers are still undefeated in league play at the halfway point of their season. Owing to the challenges of scheduling nine league teams, the Panthers now have a week and a half until their next match, while the other eight teams will be playing matches to get caught up.
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 15, 2011 17:00:40 GMT -6
i think i have now heard, in all probability, the worst play by play coverage ever for a volleyball match.
i get that the HLN coverage team for each school and the home networks are going to be staffed by "homers." But the guy doing the play by play for Green Bay was absolutely pathetic. Everything GB did was marvelous. Every call that went against the Phoenix was a terrible call.
He absolutely was unable to give the Panthers any credit any time they made a good play. He would never name a Panther player when she scored a point. Stats were mentioned only as filler between sets.
It was a shame, because he obviously knows volleyball. Listening to him could be educational instead of highly annoying.
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 19, 2011 9:09:16 GMT -6
Kerri Schuh garners another Horizon League Player of the Week honor: for the third time this season she's the offensive POTW.
horizonleague.org/blog/schuh-ruffolo-named-volleyball-players-of-the-week.html
She has also earned a defensive POTW honor this year, so she has four such honors, and is making a strong case to repeat as Player of the Year.
This weekend's matches should be challenging. It's tough to win on the road in the HL, but Butler swept Cleveland State in Cleveland last week, and appears to have rebounded from their early-season troubles. The Panthers will have their hands full when they play the Bulldogs in Indianapolis on Saturday.
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 24, 2011 7:59:01 GMT -6
This weekend's matches should be challenging. It's tough to win on the road in the HL, but Butler swept Cleveland State in Cleveland last week, and appears to have rebounded from their early-season troubles. The Panthers will have their hands full when they play the Bulldogs in Indianapolis on Saturday. There is a reason why i don't make a living predicting things like the stock market or sports championships
The Panthers get two road wins this weekend. The Wright State match went as i expected, with the Panthers dominating. The Panthers hit over .400 for the match, and held the Raiders to an .032 average. They won the second set 25-8.
i was sweating the match at Butler. Although the Bulldogs had started out slowly, they appeared to have righted their ship, having won at least four straight matches, going into Saturday. One of those wins was against Cleveland State in Cleveland. i figured the chances were good that the Panthers would win, but i was sure the match would go at least four sets. As it went, the Panthers swept the Bulldogs. The play was much more even (the Panthers hit .260 for the match, the Bulldogs hit .138), and the Bulldogs had chances to win the third set, but the Panthers were able to close out the match.
This weekend will be the last two home matches for the league regular season. Saturday's match will be against second place Cleveland State. The Panthers swept the Vikings in Cleveland earlier this season.
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Post by GoPanthers33 on Oct 24, 2011 8:25:01 GMT -6
Its good to see another Panther sport doing well!
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 24, 2011 9:55:25 GMT -6
uwmfreak.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Games&thread=5729&page=10#99992i'd say Jimmy's spot on with his assessment. This team takes care of business. Twice now this league season, they have lost the first two sets and then won three straight sets to take the match. It's a group that has been able to take a league opponent's best shot, and come back to win.
If Morgan Potter were about four inches taller, she'd be Lauren Felsing, at least in terms of her "as long as the ball is still in the gym, it's mine to dig" attitude.
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 24, 2011 13:11:10 GMT -6
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Post by blackcatinorange on Oct 24, 2011 18:13:15 GMT -6
Thanks for your comments and insights. I've been following the team on Twitter, and my interest grows with each and every match. I wish I could have gotten down to the KC and watched them play. I know a few female teenage volleyball players from area highschools who would have also loved the experience of watching the Panthers and DI volleyball. Thanks again for your updates!!
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 25, 2011 8:48:18 GMT -6
The last two home matches are Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
EDIT: uwmpanthers.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/102511aaa.html
Friday night will be "Senior Night." Come out and cheer the Panthers on, and honor this year's senior class: Morgan Potter (#1), Sam Trawitzke (#2), Mary Beth O'Brien (#3), Kerri Schuh (#7), Melissa Jansen (#11), and Mackenzie Millis (#14).
Saturday will be the Pink Out Match. The Panthers will be facing the second-place Cleveland State Vikings. A win would clinch the regular season title outright for the Panthers. It would be a good day to have another really big crowd.
UWM Open House runs Friday and Saturday. If you're on campus either day, check out the volleyball match. (Or, on Friday, the women's soccer match.)
If you're out of town, the Horizon League Network will be broadcasting the Saturday match with Cleveland State. HLN coverage is usually pretty good. (Friday's match will be on Gametracker, a live-stats app.)
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 29, 2011 17:30:59 GMT -6
The Panthers extended their school record league single season winning streak to 14 with a 3-1 victory over Cleveland State Saturday, and clinched yet another regular season championship, and with it the right to host to league volleyball tournament in about three weeks. (With the victory, the Panthers have now won 23 consecutive league regular season matches)
With two victories this weekend, the Panthers have won at least 20 matches for the 14th time in the last 16 seasons. They now have 13 days off until their next regular season match, Friday November 11 at Valparaiso. If they can win then and on Saturday the 12th at UIC, they will achieve something never before done in HL volleyball: a perfect regular season record. Two more wins would take them to 23 on the season going into the HL Tournament. 23 wins would tie the team for the fourth best season in total wins, with the HL tournament and, hopefully, the NCAA tournament still to come.
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 31, 2011 16:36:32 GMT -6
Breaking news: Kerry Schuh's string of HL Offensive Player of the Week honors ends at two. Schuh was surpassed by her teammate, Rachael Neuberger, a sophomore:
horizonleague.org/blog/neuberger-groth-named-volleyball-players-of-the-week.html
Junior Elizabeth Egerer had double digit kills in both matches over the weekend. Friday against Youngstown State, freshman Hannah Blanchard led the squad with 15 kills.
Six seniors are finishing up their college careers, including Schuh (who continues to make a strong case to repeat as Player of the Year), but there will be plenty of talent left for next season among the returnees, to say nothing of the recruits the Panthers will be signing.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 7, 2011 15:01:45 GMT -6
The Panthers had last weekend off, but during their "bye week," the league tournament picture clarified itself pretty well. The top two seeds are set: Milwaukee is the one seed and Cleveland State is the two seed, both earning byes into the semifinals. Butler is currently third, Valparaiso currently fourth, UIC currently fifth, and Green Bay currently sixth.
The Panthers finish the league season on the road. They have done well in league road matches. They won a 5-set match against Green Bay (digging themselves out of an 0-2 hole), and won in four at Loyola. The other four matches were 3-0 sweeps.
The Panthers (14-0 in league play) finish the season on the road at Valpo (Friday) and UIC (Saturday) before hosting the league tournament. Both matches could go either way, so the Panthers could just as easily enter the league tournament at 14-2 or 15-1 as at 16-0. The way the Panthers have taken care of business in the league season, however, i wouldn't bet against them. No team in the HL has finished with a perfect regular season record since well before the league assumed its current configuration.
Valpo is 9-6 in the league, so their match against the Panthers is their last league match of the season. A Butler win on the road at Wright State or a Valpo loss will clinch the three seed for Butler. A Butler loss and a Valpo win would create a tie at 10-6. Valpo would take the three seed because they were 1-1 against Milwaukee whereas Butler was 0-2.
The Crusaders gave the Panthers one of their toughest tests this season, taking the first two sets in Milwaukee before the Panther rallied to win the match in five. Valpo also bounced the Panthers from the 2010 League Tournament, which was also held in Milwaukee. That loss has fueled the Panthers all this season.
UIC is 7-8 in league play, so their match Saturday is their finale for the regular season in the league. A victory against Milwaukee would solidify the Flames in the fifth seed in the league tournament. Even if Green Bay won their matches at Youngstown State and Cleveland State to create a tie at 8-8, the Flames would claim the higher seed because they were 1-1 against Milwaukee whereas GB finished 0-2. A UIC loss with two Green Bay victories would allow the Phoenix to pass the Flames for fifth place. Any Green Bay loss would lock the fifth and sixth seeds in as they are now.
The Panthers swept the Flames earlier this season in Milwaukee, but UIC has been able to beat the Panthers in Chicago in the past.
Green Bay provided the toughest test for the Panthers all season; Milwaukee needed four sets to beat the Phoenix in Milwaukee, and five sets to win in Green Bay. So, perhaps, Green Bay is the team the Panthers least hope to see in the tournament. Such a match-up could occur in the league semifinals or the finals, depending on the final seedings.
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