GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) --- The Green Bay volleyball team (16-10, 11-3 HL) will conclude the regular season at the Kress Events Center this weekend, looking to solidify its spot in the Horizon League Championship the follow weekend. On Friday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m., the Phoenix will take on its in-state rival Milwaukee (8-20, 7-8 HL), also hosting Youth Team Night in the process. The next day, on Saturday, November 10, Green Bay will celebrate Vanessa Buman, Austyn Everingham, and Jessica Wolf on Senior Day against UIC (17-11, 10-5 HL) with the first serve at 4:00 p.m.

Schedule
Friday, November 9
vs. Milwaukee @ 7:00 p.m. CT
Saturday, November 10
vs. UIC @ 4:00 p.m. CT

Media
For Phoenix fans that can't make it to the Kress Events Center this weekend, the Milwaukee match will be broadcast on ESPN3, while the UIC game will be streamed on ESPN+. As always, live stats and tweets will also be available for fans to follow along with during each match.

Milwaukee | Watch | Stats | Twitter
UIC | Watch | Stats | Twitter

The live stats and video links can also be found on the Green Bay Phoenix volleyball schedule page. In addition, to view live tweets, follow @gbphoenixvb.

Opponent Outlook
Milwaukee is sitting in fifth place in the Horizon League standings after tonight's match against UIC, where the Panthers fell in three sets to the Flames. Milwaukee's final match of the regular season will in fact be tomorrow against the Phoenix, and even if they come away with the loss, the opponents still have a shot to make the tournament depending on other teams' matches this weekend.
 
The Panthers are around the middle of the pack in nearly every team stat in the league, with the exception of blocks: Milwaukee ranks last in the conference by a decent margin, and if Green Bay continues to hit accurately, they should be able to get the ball to go past the Panthers at the net.

Players to watch out for include Shanon Volpis and Carmen Heilemann, both offensive players that sit in the top ten for hitting percentage and kills, respectively, in the overall season and in conference play. However, Green Bay has players in these categories (and more) that out-rank even the Panthers' best team members.

The UIC vs. Green Bay match should be the most exciting of the weekend, and the result will be the final determination of where the Phoenix will stand going into the Horizon League Championship. UIC took down Milwaukee this evening and will have a day to recuperate before making the trip north. The Flames sit in third place in the league after this evening, but several other conference teams still have two matches to go to potentially shake up the standings.

UIC is a team that has similar strengths when compared to Green Bay, especially looking at overall season stats. The exception is digs and blocks: throughout the entire season, the Phoenix have been much more consistent in the back row, while the Flames are stronger defensively at the net. When looking at league-only play, however, Green Bay is quite even with UIC in terms of blocks. The match may end with the team most mentally tough winning out.

Redshirt freshman Kiera James has been leading the UIC attack, even surpassing Green Bay's Taylor Wolf for top spot in kills per set during conference play at one point. She is helped by freshman Paola Santiago, a fellow outside hitter that also has been playing consistently well all season. Just this evening, senior middle blocker Ali Witt also had a strong showing, recording five blocks and 12 kills with a .455 clip.

Last Weekend Recap
The Phoenix finished up their regular season on the road, almost making a comeback against Oakland on Grizzly turf before falling in five sets. They made a quick turnaround to play Wright State at home however, and managed to defeat the Raiders in straight sets, hopefully setting the tone for this upcoming weekend.

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