Milwaukee City Wire

The Milwaukee Panthers women's volleyball team is set for a busy week as they host the Green Bay Phoenix on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at the Klotsche Center, followed by two away matches against IU Indy Jaguars in Indianapolis on Friday and Saturday.

Tuesday's match will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Matt Menzl providing commentary. The weekend series at IU Indy is also expected to be available on ESPN+, and live statistics for all three matches can be accessed through MKEPanthers.com.

Milwaukee enters this stretch after opening Horizon League play with consecutive sweeps over Oakland, extending their record to 10-1 in their last 11 league matches dating back to last season. Over the past 20 conference contests, the Panthers have posted a 17-3 record.

Green Bay arrives in Milwaukee following two wins over Youngstown State. Diane Pichelman led the Phoenix with an average of 5.13 kills per set and was named Horizon League Player of the Week. She leads Green Bay with 151 kills this season, while Katie Schulz has contributed 141 kills but missed recent matches due to injury. Jessica Kurpeikis and Kennedy Schmitz top the team's serving stats with 14 aces each, while Emma Johnson leads in assists.

IU Indy comes into its home opener after dropping three straight matches. Under head coach Andrew Kroger, who took over in summer 2023, the Jaguars improved from nine wins last season to fifteen this year—their best since joining the Horizon League in 2017. Junior Grace Purichia has been a key player for IU Indy, leading Division I with an average of 10.13 assists per set and ranking eighth nationally in total assists.

Looking ahead, Milwaukee will return home next week for two matches against Northern Kentucky on October 10 and 11.

In individual achievements, Josie Johnson recently became only the tenth player in program history to reach 2,000 career assists during a match against Arizona State. Freshman Josie Noble leads Milwaukee with 43 blocks this season and could become the first freshman since Ari Miller in 2019 to lead the team in blocks.

Senior Natalie Schmitz joined Milwaukee’s "1,000 kill club" after reaching her milestone during a match against Iowa State. Head coach Susie Johnson is nearing another achievement as well; she currently holds a record of 198-92 in Horizon League play and is four wins away from her 200th league victory.

The Panthers have faced tough competition this season against ranked teams such as Wisconsin and Arizona State but continue to build experience within one of college volleyball’s competitive conferences.

Northern Illinois will join the Horizon League next season as its twelfth full-time member. Historically, NIU leads its series against Milwaukee by a margin of twelve wins to eight; however, Milwaukee has won three out of their last four meetings.