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Post by skrapheap on Nov 2, 2019 16:44:53 GMT -6
The road can be a tough place to play in Horizon League Volleyball.
It took Milwaukee until the third set, in their match with IUPUI, before they really started playing the kind of volleyball that has carried them to the top of the Horizon League, but they controlled play in the third and fourth sets to win 3-1, 26-28, 25-23, 25-17, and 25-19.
Set one was tightly played to a 5-all tie. The Panthers took an 8-6 lead, only to see the Jaguars go on a four point run, and then a five point run, to give IUPUI a 15-9 lead. The Panthers chipped away at the lead, tying the score at 18-all. The teams traded the next twelve points, to a 24-all tie, with the Panthers holding the Jaguars off on IUPUi's first set point. The Jags had another set point at 25-24, but the Panthers replied with two points to have their own set point at 26-25. The Jaguars got the final three points of the set on a kill and two blocks to go up one set to none. The Panthers hit a respectable .273 for the set, but the Jaguars hit their match high of .295.
Set two looked like a replay of set one initially, with IUPUI jumping out to a 5-2 lead. This set, however, the Panthers stemmed the run with a three point run of their own to tie the score. After IUPUI opened a 9-8 lead, the Panthers put together a four point run to retake the lead at 12-9. The Jaguars were able to tie the score a few times in the remainder of the set, but they could never retake the lead. The Panthers had three set points at 24-21, and gave up two of them before Carmen Heilemann finished the set with a kill.
Set three saw the Jaguars again get out to an early lead, but the Panthers tied the score at 4-all. Milwaukee scored seven of the next nine points to take an 11-6 lead, and once again they had control of the set. The lead grew to 20-13 on a Rylie Vaughn service ace. The Jaguars scored three consecutive points to narrow the lead to four, but the Panthers scored five of the final six points of the set to go up two sets to one.
Set four with a back and forth affair early, as the teams traded leads to an 8-all tie score. The Jaguars re-took the lead at 9-8, and the Panthers went on a four-point run to retake the lead, which they again held onto for the balance of the set. Milwaukee had seven match points at 24-17, and the Jaguars could only score two points before a kill by Abby Koenen finished matters.
Milwaukee finished the match with an overall hitting percentage of .223 to .186 for IUPUI. Heilemann again lead the Panther attack with 13 kills, followed by Koenen and Kleja Cerniauskaite with 11. Kyle Wilks continued her climb to 1,000 career kills with nine; she also contributed four assists, 13 digs, and a service ace to the victory.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 2, 2019 17:20:07 GMT -6
The home stretch of the Horizon League Volleyball season should be very exciting.
Milwaukee's win over IUPUI, combined with Wright State's 3-1 win over Green Bay (have I mentioned how tough it is to win on the road in the Horizon League?) puts the Panthers alone in first place at 10-2 with four matches remaining. Wright State and Green Bay are now tied to second place at 9-3. UIC might have pulled into a third place tie, but they traveled to Kentucky and were swept by NKU (it really IS tough to win on the road). The loss snaps a seven-match win-streak. The Flames are now 8-4 in league play, alone in fourth place. NKU is now 5-7 and in sixth place, half a match behind Oakland (5-6). Oakland hosts Youngstown State (2-9) tomorrow to wrap up the weekend.
The Panthers have a split schedule for next weekend, hosting Oakland on Friday and traveling to NKU on Sunday. The final weekend of league play, as i have mentioned before, features home matches with UIC and Green Bay. If they win out, no other team could catch them.
Green Bay finishes league play with alternating home and road matches: hosting Youngstown State, traveling to IUPUI, hosting UIC (probably a must-win match for both teams) and then traveling to Milwaukee.
Wright State finshes the league season with three out of four road matches, at Cleveland State, hosting UIC, then finishing on the road at Youngstown State and Oakland.
UIC also has only one home match remaining in league play. They travel to Wright State, play their home finale with Cleveland State, and finish by traveling to Green Bay and Milwaukee.
The battle for the remaining two tournament spots should also be entertaining. After hosting YSU tomorrow, Oakland finishes with a home match with Northern Kentucky, a road match in Milwaukee, and home matches with IUPUI and Wright State. NKU also has three of four remaining league matches on the road: at Oakland, hosting Milwaukee, and then finishing on the road with Youngstown State and Cleveland State.
Cleveland State won two road matches this weekend, to go to 3-9 and get out the last place. The Vikings have an uphill climb to qualify for the tournament, especially with a split schedule next week, hosting Wright State on Wednesday then traveling to UIC on Sunday. It might be too much to ask, as the Vikings haves shown themselves to be able to play quality volleyball, but have struggled with consistency. They might have to win out to get to the tournament, but if they do, they would enter tournament play on a six-match win-streak. i won't write off a Cleveland State team until they've been mathematically eliminated from tournament play.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 3, 2019 22:56:49 GMT -6
Standings with four league matches remaining: Rank | School | League Record | Overall | 1 | Milwaukee | 10-2 | 23-3 | T-2 | Green Bay | 9-3 | 17-7 | T-2 | Wright St. | 9-3 | 20-4 | 4 | UIC | 8-4 | 19-7 | 5 | Oakland | 6-6 | 13-11 | 6 | N Kentucky | 5-7 | 12-12 | 7 | Cleve St. | 3-9 | 7-16 | T-8 | Ytown St. | 2-10 | 8-17 | T-8 | IUPUI | 2-10 | 6-19 |
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 5, 2019 13:53:21 GMT -6
League RPI updated as of 11/4/19: Current RPI | Previous RPI | School | League Record | Overall | Standing | 45 | 59 | Wright St. | 9-3 | 20-4 | T-2 | 46 | 46 | Green Bay | 9-3 | 17-7 | T-2 | 52 | 54 | Milwaukee | 10-2 | 23-3 | 1 | 67 | 72 | N Kentucky | 5-7 | 12-12 | 6 | 83 | 77 | UIC | 8-4 | 19-7 | 4 | 124 | 104 | Oakland | 6-6 | 13-11 | 5 | 139 | 163 | Cleve St. | 3-9 | 7-16 | 7 | 196 | 166 | Ytown St. | 2-10 | 8-17 | T-8 | 214 | 215 | IUPUI | 2-10 | 6-19 | T-7 |
Lots of movement from two weeks ago to this week, most of it downward. Winning has a strong effect, especially in the cases of Wright State and Cleveland State. The League already has two teams at 20 wins for the season: Milwaukee and Wright State. Green Bay has a good chance to get there, and UIC is very likely to.
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Post by nickpanther on Nov 8, 2019 11:25:14 GMT -6
How many teams make the Horizon league tournament?
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 8, 2019 11:33:02 GMT -6
How many teams make the Horizon league tournament? The top six teams make the tournament. The top two seeds have byes in the quarterfinals. The top four teams have separated themselves from the rest: Milwaukee, Wright State, Green Bay and UIC. Northern Kentucky and Oakland are tied for fifth and have the clearest path to the remaining spots.
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Post by nickpanther on Nov 9, 2019 18:24:42 GMT -6
Thanks for the info. Why only 6 teams?
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 9, 2019 20:28:36 GMT -6
Thanks for the info. Why only 6 teams? Nine of the ten HL schools play volleyball (Detroit is the exception). The top two seeds get a bye. Apparently that works with a six team pool unless you want to have a play-in round, which in essence gives the top two seeds a double bye. Purdue Fort Wayne does have a women's volleyball team, so the format will probably change starting in 2020.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 15, 2019 14:45:08 GMT -6
The final weekend of regular season play is here.
The Panthers lost both matches last weekend, at home to Oakland (their only loss at home all year) and on the road to Northern Kentucky. The losses dropped the Panthers into third place, after leading the league since the beginning of league play, with a record of 10-4, behind Green Bay (12-3) and Wright State (11-3, and on a six-match win streak).
The Panthers had far too many hitting errors against Oakland and Northern Kentucky, and in both cases many of the errors involved hitting the ball into the teeth of the opponent's block. They will need to bounce back in a big way this weekend if they want a quarterfinal bye in the league tournament.
The Panthers play fourth ranked UIC tonight, and second ranked Green Bay on Saturday, both matches at home.
Wright State has the inside track to the number one seed, as they finish the season with matches against Youngstown State (in last place, 2-12) and Oakland (tied with NKU in fifth place(both have clinched spots in the tournament) at 7-7). The Raiders could finish at 13-3 with two wins, a game ahead of second place.
Two wins would tie the Panthers with Green Bay at 12-4, and would give the Panthers the tiebreaker, having won both matches with the Phoenix. If Youngstown State or Oakland pulls off an upset, there could be a three-way tie for first place. I'm not sure how that tie would be broken. If all three finish with a 12-4 records, the Panthers would, as mentioned above, have a tie breaker with Green Bay. The Panthers split their matches with Wright State, and Wright State and Green Bay split their regular season matches.
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Post by nickpanther on Nov 15, 2019 18:55:04 GMT -6
If there's a three way tie, the Panthers would have the best record of the 3 teams, having gone 3-1 against the others. This would give Milwaukee the 1 seed
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 15, 2019 19:33:22 GMT -6
In the first set against UIC tonight, the Panthers burst out of the gate to a 25-9 win. The Panthers hit .467 in the set, and five different players had kills, led by Kleja Cerniauskaite with 4. Ari Miller, Jenna Miller and Shari Volpis had three each. More importantly, the Panthers had only one hitting error. The Panther defense held the Flames to .088 in the set; UIC had five hitting errors.
Set two was much more evenly played. There were several runs on each side, and the Panthers had to go to extra play to get the 26-24 win. UIC rebounded to hit .282 for the set to raise their percentage to .192 for the match; the Panthers hit .275 for a .375 percentage after two sets. The Panthers added three service aces, and led 6-3 in aces after two sets; the Panthers did not have a service error in sets one or two.
In set three, the Panthers were in control pretty much throughout, eventually getting out to a 14-7 lead. The Flames put together a six-point run to cut the lead to one, but the Panthers re-established the lead and held on. The Panthers had four match points on the Flames, and gave up only one before a Carmen Heilemann kill finished the sweep.
Ari Miller finished the match with 11 kills to lead all scorers; her .423 hitting percentage led the Panthers. Cerniauskaite and Volpis had nine kills apiece. Kylie Wilks continued her climb to 1000 career kills with five on a .333 hitting percentage; she also contributed eight digs, two assists and two aces to the victory. She has 997 kills heading into tomorrow's regular season finale with Green Bay. Rylie Vaughn had another double-double with 19 assists and 15 digs.
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Post by nickpanther on Nov 15, 2019 21:11:40 GMT -6
What would need to happen for the Panthers to get the 1 seed?
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 16, 2019 19:16:49 GMT -6
What would need to happen for the Panthers to get the 1 seed? The losses to Oakland and Northern Kentucky greatly reduced the Panthers's chance of getting the top seed. If Milwaukee, Green Bay and Wright State had all finished in a tie for first place, the Panthers would have a tie-breaker with Green Bay, but I don't know whether the Panthers could have won a tie-breaker with Wright State. The Panthers and Raiders split their season series, as did the Raiders and the Phoenix. At any rate, the question was moot, because Wright State won today at Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies won the first set of the match, but Wright State took over from there, winning the match in four. The Raiders finish 13-3, alone in first place. They have the top seed and will host the tournament next weekend. The Panthers hosted Green Bay this afternoon, in a battle for second place. The match was a roller coaster affair, with amazing swings, with the Panthers winning in five sets. Milwaukee got out to another hot start in set one, leading 10-3 into a Green Bay time-out. The Phoenix then righted the ship, going on a six point run to close to 10-9, then scored five consecutive points to take a 14-11 lead. Green Bay's lead grew to five at 19-14, then seven at 22-15. The Panthers went on a run of their own to close to 22-18, but the Phoenix rebuilt the four point lead at 24-20. The Panthers could overcome only two of the four set points, and the Phoenix won 25-22. Set two was a mirror image of set one at the beginning, as the Phoenix raced out to a 10-3 lead and the Panthers took a time-out. The Panther comeback was not as efficient as Green Bay's was in set one, but Milwaukee did go on a seven point run, to erase a 19-13 Green Bay lead and take a 20-19 lead of their own. After a Phoenix kill tied the score at 20-all, the Panthers went on another run of four points, to go four set points up at 24-20. Green Bay could only manage two more points before a Kleja Cerniauskaite kill knotted the match at one set each. The last point was one of four for Cerniauskaite in the set. In set three, Milwaukee broke a six-all tie with a five point run to an 11-6 lead, then another run of six points to open a 17-8 lead. A further three point run made the score 20-9 in favor on the Panthers. The Phoenix rebounded to score nine more points, but not before the Panthers scored five more to win the set 25-18. The Panthers really helped themselves at the service line, scoring four aces to only two service errors. Green Bay rebounded in set four, taking an early lead and controlling play pretty much throughout the set. Try as the Panthers may, they could never build sufficient momentum to put the match away. The Phoenix would match the Panthers rally for rally. The Panthers did reduce the lead to one at 23-22, but the Phoenix scored the final two points they needed to tie the match at two games apiece. At the start of set five, it looked like the Phoenix had the upper hand, as they raced out to a 5-1 lead into a Panther time-out. The Panthers got two points out of the stoppage, but the Phoenix got those points right back, and Coach Johnson called the second and last time-out available to her. When play resumed, Milwaukee scored six of the next eight points to tie the score at 9-all. After ties at 10-all and 11-all, Milwaukee went on a three point run to take a 14-12 lead, up two match points. Green Bay fought off the one point, but Shari Volpis closed out the match with a kill, the last of her team-high 18. Volpis, Cerniauskaite (16) and Carmen Heilemann (10) finished with double-figure kills. Ari Miller contributed nine kills and Kylie Wilks had seven, to give her a career total of 1004. Wilks had six assists, four aces (of the Panthers total of 11), and three blocks. Setters Rylie Vaughn (30 assists, 14 digs) and Jenn Dore (20 assists, 13 digs) had double-doubles for Milwaukee. The Panthers were plus four at the service line, 11 aces to only seven errors. Green Bay had four aces to eight errors. The Phoenix won the defensive battle at the net, 11 blocks to eight for the Panthers, but the Milwaukee out-dug Green Bay 92-86. The Panthers hit .243 of the match, and the Phoenix were just behind at .231. The Panthers and the Phoenix finish tied for second place with identical 12-4 records, but the Panthers won both regular season matchups, and will have the second seed in the tournament. At times during this match, it seemed that Green Bay was going to pull off the win and clinch the second seed; the Panthers in the third seed would have started the tournament playing Oakland, whose loss to Wright State left them in sixth place. Oakland had pulled off the regular season sweep against the Panthers, so that would have been a tough matchup. Instead, Green Bay gets to play the Golden Grizzlies. UIC and Northern Kentucky finished with 9-7 records, and depending on the tie-breaker, one will hold the fourth seed and the other the fifth seed. Northern Kentucky needed five sets to defeat a determined Youngstown State team and finish the season with the win.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 16, 2019 20:43:56 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 18, 2019 12:12:21 GMT -6
Shari Volpis (first time honoree) and Jess Grabowski (fourth time honoree, third time in 2019) were the offensive and defensive players of the week in the Horizon League, as a result of their performances in last weekend's matches. The Panthers also announced the signing of four players for next year: a setter and three hitters: mkepanthers.com/news/2019/11/13/womens-volleyball-milwaukee-volleyball-adds-four-standouts-to-2020-roster.aspx?path=wvball The Panthers will graduate a setter, Jenn Dore, this year, along with four hitters and a defensive specialist. They will remain an experienced team despite graduating so many players. This seasons team got significant contributions from juniors, sophomores, and from two freshman in particular, Ari Miller, who started nearly every match and finished second on the team in kills, and Mati Jakscht, who was a regular in the back row and a serving specialist.
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