2016 Volleyball

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The Panther Volleyball team announced three signings for Fall 2016 today, adding on to last fall's announcement of four signings.

Seven new players is a lot of new faces to add. It looks like court time will really be up for grabs during the spring practices and in the summer training camp.

The returning players on the roster appear below. i don't know what the scholarship limit is for volleyball, and i don't know which of the returning players are on scholarship already. i also don't hear about departures, it's possible that a player or players listed below will not be returning.

Uniform #	Name	Position	Yr in School
1	Taylor Mansfield	Outside Hitter	Sr
2	Myanna Ruiz	Libero	Sr
4	Teagan Taylor	Defensive Specialist	So
6	Celine Jones	Right Side	So
9	Jess Kalous	Middle Blocker	Jr
11	Mykie Olson	Defensive Specialist	Jr
13	Kaisa Mattson	Middle Blocker	Sr
14	Maddie Schmitz	Defensive Specialist	Sr
15	Maddie Williams	Middle Blocker	So
17	Caitlin Schultz	Outside Hitter	So

The returnees include six upperclassmen and four underclassmen. With seven new freshmen, the team will be quite young, but will have a fair bit of experience. Maynna Ruiz, Mykie Olson, Maddie Schmitz all have played extensively in the back row, and Kaisa Mattson and Maddie Williams saw a lot of action in the front row last year. Jess Kalous's playing time increased as the last season went on.

It will be interesting to see how spring practice progresses, and what the roster looks like at the beginning of the year next fall.

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The Roster as of today:

#	Name	Pos	Yr
1	Mansfield, Taylor	RS	Sr
2	Ruiz, Myanna	L	Sr
3	Kiekhofer, Louise	OH	Fr
4	Taylor, Teagan	DS	So
5	McDonald, Amanda	S/RS	Fr
6	Jones, Celine	RS	So
7	Book, Sydney	RS/MB/OH	Fr
8	Dore, Jenn	S	Fr
9	Kalous, Jess	MB	Jr
10	Uselding, Lexie	DS/OH	Fr
11	Olsen, Mykie	DS	Jr
12	Wallenberger, Bridget	MB	Fr
13	Mattson, Kaisa	MB	Sr
14	Wilks, Kylie	OH	Fr
15	Williams, Maddie	MB	So
17	Schultz,Caitlin	OH	So

Position Key: DS = Defensive Specialist (back row), MB = Middle Blocker (front row), OH = Outside Hitter (front row), RS = Right Side (front row), S = Setter

The roster is pretty much as projected last spring; the only difference is that Maddie Schmitz, who would be a senior in terms of eligibility, is not on today's roster. i have no idea why. She had played a fair amount in the last three seasons.

Myanna Ruiz, Kaisa Mattson and Maddie Wiliams are the key retournees. Jess Kalous, Mykie Olson and Celine Jones saw a fair amount of court time in previous years. Taylor Mansfield played a lot early last year, but by the time league play began was pretty much out of the rotation. Caitlin Schultz played scarcely at all, but she's 6'4" tall.

There are seven incoming freshmen, and they will get an opportunity to play, especially before the league season begins. Williams played early and extensively last season as a freshman, finishing among the leaders in many stats.

This is a very young squad: 11 of 16 players are underclassmen. i would be surprised if they rank high in the pre-season league rankings. If Coach Johnson can get good contributions from younger players, something she has done in the past, the Panthers can be right in the race for the top.

Milwaukee is right there with Oakland, Cleveland State, and Valparaiso among the top programs. Youngstown State has been competitive for the past few seasons, and Northern Kentucky fared pretty well in their first year in the league.

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Practice begins today.

A little less than three weeks till the season starts, with the Panthers hosting Akron, Bradley, and Western Illinois in their own tournament, the Pepsi Panther Invitational.

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The combination of a young roster and coming off a down year led to the Panthers being picked to finish fifth in the Horizon League: mkepanthers.com/news/2016/8/18/womens-volleyball-horizon-league-unveils-volleyball-preseason-poll.aspx.

The season kicks off tomorrow with two matches in the Panther Pepsi Invitational tournament, in the Klotsche Center, 12:30 pm (approx, depending on the prevous match) vs Bradley, and 7:00 pm vs Akron.

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The Panthers started five of their veteran players in set one of the match with Bradley: Myanna Ruiz at Libero, Teagan Taylor and Mykie Olsen in the back row, and Jess Kalous and Taylor Mansfield in the front row. Freshman Jen Dorre started at setter, and Bridget Wallenberger played early.

Play was back and forth in set one, with the Panthers taking an early 4-1 lead. Bradley rallied to take a 12-10 lead, and Coach Johnson took the first time-out. The Panthers tied the score at 16, only to give the Braves back the lead on a service error. Bradley opened the lead to 20-16, and the Panthers took their second time-out. Bradley took a 24-18 lead, and the Panthers could not handle the serve, and lost the set 25-18.

The Panthers rode a hitting streak by Caitlin Schultz to a 5-2 lead early in set two, but the Braves tied the score at 6 and then 7, and then took a 10-7 lead to prompt a Panther time-out. Play improved and the lead was narrowed to one point, but Bradley responded with another run to retake a four point lead at 15-11, leading to another time-out from the Panthers. Maddie Williams, who played so well last season, had a rough day hitting, with a couple of hitting errors, and the Bradley lead continued to be four to five points until a late run narrowed the lead to 22-20, forcing a Bradley time-out. A long rally ended with a point for the Braves, and they had three set points at 24-21. After the Panthers fought off the first set point, the Braves took their second time-out, and regrouped to finish the set 25-22 and go up 2-0 in sets at the break. Milwaukee played better in the set, but still struggled with scoring runs: they gave up longer scoring runs than they were able to achieve. The service game continued to be a weakness, as they had no aces and at least six errors through the two sets.

Set three was a complete reversal of fortune. The Panthers ran away with the set, opening and sustaining a lead of nine to ten points. The final score for the set was 25-13. Newcomers Louise Kieckhofer, Wallenberger, and Sydney Book contributed to the improved play. The Panthers hit .467 for the set, after not hitting above .150 in either of the first two sets. This is the level of play the team is aiming for, and it was good to see the Panthers sustain that level throughout a set.

Set four was then a test of the team's ability to sustain their momentum. Play was much more even to ties at seven, eight and nine points, until the Panthers opened an 11-9 lead, which they opened to 14-10. The Braves rallied to tie the score at 16, and the Panthers took their first time-out. The Braves took an 18-16 lead, then gave it up on a service error, a Panther block, and a Panther service ace, forcing a Bradley time-out. The Panthers took a 20-18 lead, and then a three point Braves run re-took the lead. The Panthers re-tied the score and then gave it up on an unforced error, but retook a 23-22 lead into the second Bradley time-out. A Bradley hitting error gave the Panthers set-point, and Jess Kalous finished the set with a kill, to tie the match at two sets apiece. The Panthers pulled out the set win without hitting at an impressive percentage.

The Panthers scored the first point of set five, only to see the Braves reel off three points of their own. The Panthers played back to a tie, and back and forth continued to a tie at eight, and the side-change. The Panthers than put together a three point run, to force a Braves time-out. The run extended to four out of the time-out, and after the Panthers lost a long rally, the Panthers took a time-out of their own, leading 12-9. Caitlin Schultz's 20th kill put the Panthers two points away from the win, and a Panther block gave them five match points at 14-9. The Panthers took their second time-out after Bradley fought off two match points, the second on an ace off the top of the net. Out of the timeout, a combination block finished the Panther comeback, as they took the set 15-11, and the match 3-2.

I will further edit this article once I can see match stats, as the live stats feed continued to be dead. What the Athletic Department is doing with the live stats, I am not sure, as they appear to be broadcasting to the public a stat feed that is explicitly intended only for media.

Update: Two Panthers finished the match in double figures for kills: Schultz, who has 20, and Kalous who had 15. Kiekhofer and Book were next at six kills, followed by Wallenberger with five and and Mansfield with four. Kalous led the Panthers in hitting percentage for the match, at .357.

The Panthers continue to hang their hats on defense, and their defensive output improved over the course of the match. The Panthers had 11 total blocks (two solo) in the match, and had five players reach double figures in digs: Dore with 19, Ruiz with 16, Kiekhofer with 15, Taylor with 14, and Olsen with 10. The Panthers out-dug the Braves 80-78, but were out-blocked 13-11. The Panthers also improved on service over the match: six of the Panthers' nine service errors took place in the first two sets; after the break, the Panthers had three more service errors but equaled that total with three aces in the final three sets.

Apparently, Schultz played through pain during the match, which makes her effort more impressive.

The Panthers next play Akron, who held on for a five set win over Western Illinois in the opening match of the tournament. The length of that match delayed the start of the Milwaukee vs. Bradley match for half an hour.

Bradley takes on Western Illinois at 5:30 p.m., and the Panthers will play the Zips at 7:30 p.m or thereabouts (again, depending on the time required for the Bradley-Wesetern Illinois match). Having built momentum over the course of the first match, the Panthers will hope to continue it against Akron.

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I arrived late to the Panthers' second match of the tournament, and missed the Panthers getting out to a fast start and a huge lead against Akron. The lead was in double digits for the part of the set i was able to see, and the Panthers won easily. The Zips played better at the end of the set, but they had dug a hole too deep to get out of. Milwaukee hit over .200 in the set and held Akron below -.200 for the set.

The second set began much more evenly, as Akron appeared to settle in, helped by use of both of their time-outs, but the Panthers built a 13-10 lead early on. The Zips rallied to a 14-all tie, and re-tied the score at 16. The two teams traded service errors to a 17-all tie. Another Zip service error started a five point run, featuring consecutive kills by Jessica Kalous. Caitlin Schultz scored consecutive kills to give the Panthers six set points at 24-18. After the Zips scored consecutive points of their own, the Panthers took their first time-out, after which, Schultz finished the set with her third consecutive kill, to win 25-20, and take a two sets to none lead to the break.

Akron got out to a 6-2 lead in set three, prompting a Panther time-out. Milwaukee reeled Akron in after the time-out, narrowing the lead, forcing tie scores, and then beginning a run which forced the Zips to take both their time-outs, but stil the Panthers' lead grew to nine at 20-11 and then 21-12. The Panther front row play was very strong, tipping many balls to allow passing from the back row, when the front row wasn't scoring points with blocks. The third set ended with Panthers earning the sweep with a 25-14 win.

At the end of the evening, there was a lot to like about the Panthers' work in the first two matches. Coaches Johnson, Vanden Berg, and Neuberger will no doubt find things that the team needs to work on, but there was definitely a lot of positives to build on, plus aspects of their play which will naturally get better with more play.

The Panthers finished the day at 2-0, followed by Akron and Bradley at 1-1, and Western Illinois at 0-2. The Panthers' remaining opponent will be Western Illinois. Even if the Panthers lose to Western Illinois, they would finish ahead of the Bradley-Akron winner, having beaten both teams.

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Set one of the Panthers' match with Western Illinois was a back and forth affair. The Panthers got out to an early lead, but the Leathernecks tied the score at eight, and the teams traded the lead until a tie at 20. The Panthers then closed out the set with five points, two (including the winner) by Sydney Book. Toward the end of the set, the Panther bench got a yellow card. I have no idea why. No one on the bench, not even the usually-animated Coach Johnson, seemed particularily irritated by anything that was happening when the warning was given.

The Panthers got off to another fast start in set two, taking a 7-2 lead and prompting a WIU time-out. The Panthers kept going, forcing the second Leatherneck time-out with the lead at 12-4, including aces by Mykie Olsen and Bridget Wallenberger. The lead reached 10 at 18-8. WIU scored consecutive points and then gave one back. Milwaukee pushed the lead to 23-11, and had 12 set points at 24-12. WIU managed two points, and Kylie Wilks finished the set with a kill, to put the Panthers up two sets going into the break.

To begin set thriee, the teams traded points to a four-all tie, when the Panthers went on a four point run, forcing the first Leatherneck time-out. The run went for two more points before WIU scored again. The lead reached 12-5, and then a three point WIU run prompted a Panther time-out. WIU took their second time-out with Milwaukee leading 16-10. The Panthers rolled home from there, with 13 match points at 24-11. Wilks finished the match with another kill.

Book (10 kills) led the Panthers, who had five players score at least five kills in the match. Caitlin Schultz (nine killes) led the Panthers with a .381 hitting percentage. Overall the Panthers hit .298 while holding WIU to .098. The Panthers out-dug the Leathernecks by 25, 52-27. Both teams had seven blocks for the match.

The Panthers finished the tournament 3-0, and placed Jen Dore, Myanna Ruiz and Schultz (MVP) on the sll-tournament team.

This is a very good start to the season. Coach Johnson was optimistic going into the weekend, based on the first three weeks of practice, and the match results justify her optimism. The Panthers won their matches with scoring balance, and strong defense. After serving woes in the first match (three aces, nine errors), the Panthers were better in the next two matches (three and three against Akron, four and two against WIU).

Next on the schedule for the Panthers is a tournament next weekend at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, followed by a challenging tournament at Western Illinois. The Panthers then play in Milwaukee on September 16th and 17th, but as a participant at Marquette's tournament, playing Missouri State and Marquette (both 2015 NCAA tournament participants) to wrap up the non-league season.

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I was able to watch only part of the one match (of three total played) this weekend that was broadcast over the internet. I saw the three sets that the Panthers won against Sacred Heart University after losing the first two sets.

The Panthers went 2-1 for the weekend. They lost to Dartmouth on Friday in straight sets , but were in each set. They lost the first two sets to Sacred Heart by three and two points, and in the second set fought to 33-35. After the break, the Panthers got out to early leads in sets three, four and five and kept control, for the most part, pulling away to win. They finished with a sweep of George Mason University.

They accomplished this with a lineup changed as a result of injuries, according to Coach Johnson. Caitlin Schultz, who was MVP last weekend, despite an arm injury, did not play. Kaisa Mattson has played in just one match this season, whether as a result of injury or other reasons i do not know. Freshman Bridget Wallenberger and Senior Myanna Ruiz made the All-Tournament team.

Through the first two weeks of the 2016 season, Milwaukee is 5-1, the third best record in the league, behind UIC (6-0) and Green Bay (5-0), and ahead of Valpo and Cleveland State at 4-2.

The Panthers play two matches next week against strong teams at Marquette's tournament. The Golden Eagles started the season with an impressive performance in a tournament in California, beating USC and UC, Irvine. The other team in the tournament is NCAA tournament regular Missouri State.

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The Panthers knew going into this weekend's tournament that they would be facing higher quality opponents in Xavier, Tennessee and host Western Michigan, and Friday's matches played out that way.

The Panthers lost both matches Friday against Xavier and Tennessee by 3-1 scores. In both matches, the Panthers rebounded from first set losses to win the second set, and then ran out of steam and lost sets three and four.

The Panthers were led by Caitlin Schultz with 13 kills in the match with Xavier and 10 against Tennessee. The Panther block, which was so effective in previous matches, was much less so in the two matches. As a result, Xavier and Tennessee both out-hit Milwaukee by significant margins. Xavier and Tennessee also out-dug the Panthers to contribute to their edges in hitting percentages.

The starting lineup for Saturday's match with Western Michigan was Teagan Taylor, Jenn Dore, Jess Kalous, Bridget Wallenberger, Kylie Wilks, Schultz, and Myanna Ruiz at libero.

Set one began differently. The Panthers got out to an early lead, forcing a Bronco time-out leading 12-7. The Panthers maintained the lead out of the time-out, extending the lead to 17-10 when Western Michigan called their second time-out. Milwaukee was hitting .368 at that point, to .222 for Western Michigan. The Panthers were led again by Schultz with three kills, followed by Wallenberger with two. Milwaukee called a timeout after WMU narrowed an 19-11 lead to 19-13. At the time out, the Panthers had four service aces to none for the Broncos, and two service errors to one for the Broncos. The Panthers took their second time-out with a 22-17 lead. The Broncos had raised their hitting percentage to .310 to .345 for the Panthers. The Panthers had six set points at 23-19 on a service error by the Broncos, then immediately gave up one point on a service error of their own. Schultz then finished the set with her match-leading fifth kill (on a .500 hitting percentage). Wallenberger had four kills (and a .667 percentage). Maddie Williams had two kills. The Panthers finished the set hitting .333 to .3000 for the Broncos. Both teams had two blocks in the set, and the Broncos had a narrow edge in digs at 16-14.

Set two saw the Broncos get out to a 4-1 lead on two Panther errors and a service ace. The Panthers quickly narrowed that lead, scoring three points to tie the score at five-all. Three consecutive Panther errors reopened the three point Bronco lead at 8-5. The Panthers took the first time-out of set two trailing 11-7, and their hitting percentage had tumbled to .212. The Panthers gave up two more points out of the time-out, getting one back on a Bronco error, and back-and-forth play continued. The Panthers took time-out number two trailing 17-11 in points, .260 to .175 in hitting, 5-2 in blocks, and 26-22 in digs. The Broncos were able to keep the Panthers from going on a run throughout the stretch; the Panthers scores consecutive points only once, to narrow the lead to 18-14, only to see the Broncos score two points of their own to reopen a five point lead at 20-15, and then score three more to get to 23-15. The Broncos had eight set points at 24-16, and finished set two with a block to even the match. WMU's advantage in hitting percentage had grown to .315 to .141, and they had out-blocked the Panthers 7-2. The Panthers managed only one ace in set two, and had six service errors to make a comeback in the set harder.

The match had now become a test of the Panthers' resiliency.

Set three started with the teams trading points to a tie score at three-all, and when WMU scored three points on Panther errors to jump out to a 6-3 lead, Coach Johnson called Milwaukee's first time-out to try to settle things down. The Panthers remained unable to string points together, unlike in previous matches, while the Broncos managed to go on runs, helped by Panther errors. Milwaukee was able to narrow the lead to one at 11-10, but again the Broncos answered with three points to get the lead back to 14-10. The Panthers then scored four straight points, three by Kalous, to tie the score at 14-all, but were unable to retake the lead, trading points to an 18-16 Bronco lead, when the Panthers took their second time-out of the set. The Panthers had improved their hitting percentage slightly, to .151, and reduced the Broncos' percentage to .305. Out of the timeout, the Panthers quickly retook the lead on a Bronco error, a Schultz kill, and a Wallenberger block (the Panthers' fourth of the match), and WMU took their first timeout. The Panthers gave up the tying point, but then scored three consecutive points on two WMU errors and their sixth service ace of the match, and WMU took their second timeout with the Panthers up 22-19. Out of the time-out, the Panthers outscored the Broncos two to one to finish the set 25-20 on kills from Schultz (number 11) and Kalous (number six). The Panthers narrowed the hitting percentage gap to .172 to .253.

The Broncos jumped out to a 6-2 lead in set four, helped by two Panther hitting errors and a setting error, and the Panthers took their first time-out. WMU was able to maintain a lead, but the Panthers narrowed it to 13-12 on three consecutive points, only to see the Broncos score six points of their own to reopen an 18-12 lead. After the Panthers narrowed the lead to 19-15 on a service ace, a service error and a Bronco block (their 11th of the match) re-opened a 21-15 lead. The Broncos went up six set-points at 24-18, and finished the set 25-19 even the match again.

Three consecutive Panther errors opened the fifth set, giving the Broncos an early 3-1 lead, and after Milwaukee tied the score at three-all, another Panther service error (their 14th versus 7 aces), a Bronco kill and a Panther hitting error re-opened a 6-3 Bronco lead, prompting a Panther time-out. The Panthers scored three points out of the time-out to re-tie the score, and then re-took the lead at 8-7, and then traded the next several points to ties at eight- nine-, ten- and eleven-all. The Panthers then scored twice to take a 13-11 lead, forcing a Bronco time-out. A Wilks kill gave the Panthers three match points at 14-11, and the Panthers took their second time-out after the Broncos fought of the first point. The Broncos scored two more points to tie the match at 14, then gave up another match point on s service error, which the Panthers gave back on another service error. The Panthers took a 16-15 lead on another Wilks kill, and then Schultz finished the match with a kill with her 12th kill.

The Panthers finished the match hitting .180 (to .250 for the Broncos). The Broncos won the battle at the net, 12 blocks to six, and out-dug the Panthers 74-55. The Panthers had eight total aces to go with 15 errors, and the Broncos had three aces and 11 errors. Wallenberger's 13 kills tied her for match-high, and she was joined in double figures by Schultz, Kalous with 11, and Maddie Williams with 10. Wilks' six kills came at important times, especially late. Dore contributed four kills, 42 assists, two aces, and seven digs to the Panthers' effort.

The Panthers finished the tournament 1-2 to go to to 6-3 for the season, heading into the last weekend before league play begins. The Panthers play perennial NCAA-tournament team Missouri State in Marquette's tournament on Friday, then play Marquette on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the non-league season.

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There is good news in that the Panthers, currently 6-3, will finish the non-league season with a winning record, even if they lose to both Missouri State and Marquette this weekend. The Panthers have already won more non-league matches than they did in 2015, and will finish with a better overall record than last year if they win four more matches.

The Panthers' non-league record is currently fifth best in the Horizon League. UIC and Green Bay are in the top three at present. Green Bay was predicted to tie the Panthers for fifth place and UIC was predicted to finish just behind Milwaukee and Green Bay in seventh place.

The NCAA has not released any RPI data for this season yet, but i have discovered something else: a mid-major poll by
volleyballmag.com. In the latest version of the poll, Milwaukee's opponents this week are ranked in the top 25, as is Xavier, who they played (and lost to, 3-1) last week. Missouri State (tied for 8th in the mid-major poll) and Marquette (10th in the mid-major poll) are also receiving votes in the D1 AVCA Coaches Poll.

The Panthers seem to be playing well, and a strong showing against Missouri State and/or Marquette will be a very positive sign. A victory against either would be a real feather in the cap. Marquette started the season by beating USC, who is currently ranked 21st in D1 Poll, so one can always hope.

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The Panthers opened their match with Missouri State with Kylie Wilks, Bridget Wallenberger, Mykie Olsen, Jenn Dore, Taylor Mansfield, and Jess Kalous in the starting lineup, with Myanna Ruiz as the libero.

Missouri State, who came into the match on a six match win streak (and an 8-3 overall record, including wins over two Top 25 teams), jumped quickly out to a lead in set one against the Panthers. After the Panthers opened with three points, the Bears went on an extended run, to a 13-5 lead, with the Panthers taking both their allotted times-out. The Panthers regrouped out of the second time out to score three consecutive points to cut the lead to 13-8, but the Bears maintained the pressure, building the lead back to 19-10. The Bears were hitting .400 to .030 for the Panthers. Wallenberger led the way with three kills. The Bears pushed the lead back to 10 at 23-13, had 10 set points at 24-14 and finished the set 25-14. The Panthers increased their hitting percentage to .098 at the end of the set; the Bears finished hitting .421. Louise Kiekhofer joined Wallenberger with three kills for the set.

Milwaukee scored the first two points of set two on two MSU errors. After the Bears got a point, Wallenberger's fourth kill and another MSU error give the Panthers a 4-1 lead. The Bears had cooled down considerably, hitting .000 for set two through a 7-4 Panther lead, but the Panthers also were at .000. Three consecutive MSU points tied the score, but the Panthers scored consecutive points to re-establish a two point lead. The Bears would not let the Panthers extend the lead beyond two, and took their first lead of the set, with a five point run giving them a 14-10 lead, forcing the first Panther time-out after Panther hitting errors accounted for three of the five points in the run. An MSU error broke the string at six points, narrowing the lead briefly to 15-11, but the Bears scored two more points and Coach Johnson called the second time-out, trailing 17-11. The Panthers were hitting -.067 at that point in the set. Consecutive blocks by the Bears pushed the lead to eight, and after a service error broke the string, the Bears scored two more points to take a 21-12 lead. The Panthers then went on a run of their own, scoring four straight points to cut the lead to 21-16, gave up a point, and then two more to cut the lead to 22-18. The Panthers were not able to get any closer, and the Bears had five set points at 24-19. The Panthers fought off one point, but the Bears finished off the set, 25-20, and took a two-sets to none lead into the break. Kiekhofer led the Panthers with seven kills and a .385 hitting average after two set. Wallenberger had five kills, but a number of hitting errors cut her hitting percentage to .059. Errors in general were Milwaukee's downfall in the second set, as they hit -.023. Missouri State hit .243 for set two, considerably less than in set one, but were comfortably in control.

Set three began with fairly even play. The Bears took their first lead on a five point run to go up 9-5, with a Kalous kill for the Panthers ending the run, briefly. The Panthers scored consecutive points to reduce the lead to 10-8, and generally showed signs of better play, keeping the Bears out of the long scoring runs that had put the first two sets out of reach. Three more points, including a service ace by Teagen Taylor, by the Panthers tied the score at 11-all. After an MSU service error tied the score at 12-all, the Bears again scored four points to re-open a 16-12 lead, forcing the first Panther time-out later in the set than in either sets one or two. Out of the time-out, the Panthers cut the lead to 16-14, and to 17-15. Consecutive kills by Kalous and Wilks cut the lead to one at 18-17, and Missouri State took their first time-out of the match. Out of the Bears time-out, consecutive blocks by the Panthers and a Kalous kill gave the Panthers a 20-18 lead. The Bears re-tied the score at 20-all with a kill and a setting error by the Panthers, and took a 21-20 lead on another kill, prompting the second Panther time-out. When play resumed, Milwaukee retook the lead on two MSU errors, only to give up the tying point on an error of their own. An MSU service error gave the Panthers a 23-22 lead, but the Bears promptly tied the score. Another Wilks kill gave the Panthers their first set-point opportunity of the match, and MSU took their second time-out. The Bears tied the score and got their first match point opportunity on consecutive kills, and finished the match on a service ace, for the three-set sweep.

The Panthers improve to a .250 hitting percentage for the set. Kalous and Kiekhofer led the way with eight kills, followed by Wallenberger with seven, and Wilks with six. The Panthers final match of the tournament is against host Marquette tomorrow afternoon. MSU gets to play Marquette tonight.

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Milwaukee at Marquette is at 1pm on TWCSC on Saturday. MU beat Iowa State 3-0 on Friday night.

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As i expected, Marquette (8-2 entering the match) beat Milwaukee, 3-0.

I know the sports information people in the Athletic department are bound to put the best possible spin on the results of the Panthers' matches, but it's misleading to say, as they insist on saying, that Milwaukee "came just short" of beating Marquette. The Golden Eagles were in control pretty much the entire match, since they not only swept the Panthers, but pulled away at the end of each set to do so. Marquette did not thoroughly dominate the Panthers in the statistics, but they controlled play. The Panthers never managed to score more than three points in a row, and so, even when they had a lead, it was never too great for Marquette to overcome. The Panthers simply lost to a better team.

That said, there is much more to be hopeful about going into Horizon League play this year than last. The team is playing better, as reflected by their overall record (6-5; they had three wins last season in non-league play). They are getting balanced scoring, much of which is coming from their younger players. Whether by choice, to bring the younger players along, or by necessity, due to injuries (the full extent of injuries is seldom made public), Coach Johnson has relied on her younger players to contribute, and each of them has played well at one time or another. And all this has happened with a true freshman at setter.

Another hopeful sign is a general lack of allowing opponents to go on long scoring runs. An inability to get a timely side-out last season meant that the Panthers fell behind by margins too large to overcome in sets. Some of the stronger opponents have gone on long runs at times this season, but far more often the Panthers gave kept the score close. The team has won both of the five-set matches they have played.

This is a very young roster, whose players appear to be making a rapid adjustment to D1 volleyball. Coach Johnson so far has commented more than once how pleased she is with the speed with which this squad, with so many newcomers, has gelled as a team. That bodes well for the future.

The team's ceiling for this season will depend on their further development as individual players and as a team. If they continue to develop as a team in league play as they have so far, they could surprise some people. They were picked to finish in the middle if the pack, so success won't be as stunning as when they were picked to finish last and won it all a few seasons ago. (Perhaps that season taught the rest of the league not to underrate Milwaukee.)

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NCAA.com apparently won't start posting RPI information for 2016 for at least another week.

Here is a comparison of non-league results to the preseason poll. The data is taken from horizonleague.com:

Rank	Team	W -L (overall)	Preseason Poll
1	UIC	12-2	7
2	Cleveland State	9-3	1
3	Green Bay	8-4	T5
4	Oakland	8-6	3
T5	Northern Kentucky	6-5	4
T5	Milwaukee	6-5	T5
T7	Valparaiso	6-8	2
T7	Youngstown State	6-8	8
9	Wright State	5-8	9

Some observations:

• In the absence of other data (e.g. RPI rankings), horizonleague.com appears to be using the preseason rank as a tiebreaker
• The Panthers appear to be right where they were predicted, but, again, there's no data to compare strength of non-league schedules
• In the absence of other data, it's hard to know just how impressed to be with UIC's performance, and
• In the absence of other data, it's hard to know if Valparaiso played a really challenging non-league schedule or if they're not going to be as good as predicted. However, given their history in the league, if i were a betting man, i'd put money on the former, rather than the latter.