HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky volleyball takes to the road one last time during the regular season, traveling to Milwaukee and Chicago for matches on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, Nov. 3, NKU squares off with Milwaukee at 7 p.m. ET, and then travels south to take on UIC at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 4. Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN3 with live streaming available on computers, tablets, smart phones  and streaming devices through WatchESPN and the ESPN App.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Norse dropped their Friday night match to Oakland in four sets, but righted the ship the next day with a sweep of Youngstown State. In the setback to Oakland, junior outside hitter Haley Libs recorded her 1,000th career kill, finishing the night with 17 kills and 13 digs for her seventh-straight double-double. Libs was also a force against the Penguins with 14 kills, but NKU's standout performance came from freshman middle blocker Kaelin Gentile, who hit .750 off of 15 kills and no errors. Her hitting percentage tied Keely Creamer's Division I-era single-match record for the program, and Gentile was later honored by the Horizon League as the Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 30.
 
WINNING WAYS: NKU hit a major milestone as a program on Oct. 2, as the Norse posted their 1,000th win in the 42-year team history with a 3-1 win over Youngstown State. The Penguins claimed the opening set, but NKU rattled off the next three sets to remain undefeated in the series history with YSU. Haley Libs led the team with 21 kills and 15 digs, connecting at a .395 clip, while freshman Kaelin Gentile had a career night with 11 kills at a .346 clip. Drew Hendricks had a strong showing with a career-best 13 kills from the left pin.
 
DOUBLE THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE: Both Haley Libs and Laura Crawford are averaging double-doubles on the season, with 13.48 kills/13.62 digs and 10.62 kills/12.52 digs per match, respectively. The duo recorded back-to-back double-doubles in the first two matches of the season against Robert Morris and Duquesne, and again versus Seattle and Sacramento State and later against Wright State and IUPUI.
  
The Robert Morris match marked a feat that had not been accomplished in nearly a decade. Two players with a double-double in a sweep is a feat in and of itself, but the rarity is even more so when the two players are both attackers. The last time a pair of Norse attackers registered double-doubles in a sweep was on Oct. 21, 2007 against Mount St. Joseph, when current head coach Liz Hart (née Holmes) had 16 kills and 10 digs in the three-set victory while Tristen Dye added 15 kills and 14 digs. The last time two attackers had double-doubles in a victory of any kind was on Nov. 14, 2015 against Cleveland State, courtesy of Libs (17 kills, 13 digs) and Jayden Julian (10 kills, 17 digs).
 
AND SETTER MAKES THREE: Shelby Olsen has also entered the fold as a double-double machine, averaging 41.14 assists and 12.52 digs per match. Olsen recorded the first double-double of her career against Seattle and went off for three-straight double-doubles throughout the entirety of the NKU Invitational, culminating in career bests of 53 assists and 17 digs (which was bested by 20 digs against Florida A&M on Sept. 16) against Bowling Green.
 
BACK LINE OF DEFENSE: Northern Kentucky's defense has become a mainstay of its success, and the Norse are keeping up with the trend of being one of the top defensive teams in the Horizon League. NKU is not only leading the Horizon League in digs per set (17.93), but that number is good for 11th nationally.
 
SCOUTING MILWAUKEE: Milwaukee is 11-15 overall and 4-8 in League play, currently on the outside looking in with regards to seeding for the Horizon League Tournament. Despite their record, the Panthers have pulled off two significant upsets when the team swept the regular season against Oakland, a team that is currently tied for first in the Horizon League.
  
The Panthers return the bulk of their team from last season, including three all-freshman team honorees led by the 2016 HL Freshman of the Year, Bridget Wallenberger. The middle blocker continues to lead the team in her sophomore campaign, but has fallen from leading the League in hitting percentage and being near the top in kills per set to ranking fifth with 3.48 kps and sixth with a .304 clip. Also contributing on offense is Caitlin Schultz, who averages 3.07 kps from the pins and is the tallest outside in the League at 6-foot-4. Jenn Dore leads the Panther offense with 11.56 assists per set, a number that sits in the top-15 nationally.
  
As a team, Milwaukee has been statistically balanced in most categories, sitting in the top-five of the majority excluding digs per set (14.96) and opponent hitting percentage (.243). While the Panthers sit on the low end of the spectrum in back-row defense, the front line has been averaging 2.06 blocks per set, led by 1.04 rejections a game from Wallenberger.
  
Milwaukee is a team that has given the Norse trouble in the past, with the Panthers leading 3-2 in an all-time series that began when NKU joined the Horizon League. The Norse recorded the second all-time win over Milwaukee earlier this year, upending the Panthers in four sets.
 
SCOUTING UIC: UIC is riding a three-match win streak with victories over Youngstown State, Green Bay and Milwaukee, and sit at 16-9 overall and 7-5 in League play.
  
When NKU met up with UIC last month, the Flames were leading the Horizon League in hitting percentage at a .266 clip, but have since dropped to .210 after a handful of losses. Nicole Johnson and Kaliegh Skopal run UIC's 6-2 offense, as Johnson pairs up opposite Kyisha Hunt, who leads the team with 3.72 kills per set. Johnson and Skopal spread their sets well, as each of the six primary hitters average at least 1.69 kps and all but one are hitting above .200 since entering the League season. Carla Salvato leads UIC in the back row, averaging 4.32 digs per set, while Manuela Conte also contributes heavily in the back half of her six rotations with 3.80 dps. Despite the fact that UIC is the only school with two players in the top-10 of the League in digs per set, the team sits at seventh with 15.25 dps.
  
NKU holds a 7-1 record against the Flames in the all-time series, with the lone loss coming in the first meeting since the Norse moved to Division I. When the two met up in early October, the Norse narrowly escaped defeat in a thrilling five-set victory, 25-17, 17-25, 25-15, 21-25, 19-17.