DES MOINES, Iowa – Riding a three-match win streak to open the year, the Milwaukee volleyball team's confidence was high as they looked to keep rolling. The Panthers pull ahead early and led 2-1 against Eastern Washington, but dropped the final two frames, falling 3-2 on Friday afternoon.
 
"We never really got a rhythm going within the match," head coach Susie Johnson commented. "Unfortunately, when we were getting down, it was a combination of things. We never really got going. We were working hard, just not executing."
 
It was tight early on in the first set before Milwaukee rattled off five straight points behind kills from Carmen Heilemann and Kylie Wilks for a 14-10 advantage. The Eagles got one back after a timeout, but a 7-1 run extended the lead to 21-12 and out of the reach of EWU. From there, Louise Kiekhofer and Heilemann led the charge to a 25-14 set one victory.
 
Eastern Washington limited errors in the second frame as they had an answer for every Milwaukee point. Down five at 19-14, Kiekhofer, Heilemann, and Makenzie Mroczenski each landed kills to pull MKE within a pair.
 
Back-to-back errors had the Eagles up four but Wilks slammed home three consecutive kills to tie the frame 21-21. EWU again responded and faced set point at 24-22 but Milwaukee wouldn't go away easy as Ari Miller tallied a kill and then joined Kiekhofer for a block, forcing an Eagles timeout. Despite the rally, Eastern Washington regrouped at the break and cashed in for two straight kills to tie the match 1-1.
 
Milwaukee left little doubt in the third set as they jumped out to a quick lead and did not let off the gas. Up 8-6, the Panthers scored seven of the next nine points to pull ahead 15-8. An EWU kill stopped the run, but an error and three more Panthers points had Milwaukee in control 19-10.
 
MKE continued to pull away taking advantage of EWU errors and getting a pair of kills from Heilemann before Jenn Dore's second ace earned a 25-13 third set victory and put the Panthers back on top 2-1. Milwaukee had just three errors as they recorded 11 kills and a match-high .250 attack percentage.
 
The Panthers had to climb out of a hole in the fourth as EWU jumped ahead 7-1 quickly behind four kills. Later, Milwaukee chipped away and pulled within one at 19-18 thanks to a block from Kleja Cerniauskaite and Mroczenski and a Kiekhofer kill.
 
The Panthers kept it close, but EWU's Ana Zandona put away a pair of kills late for a 25-22 set four win, tying the match 2-2. Milwaukee could not find rhythm, committing eight errors in the frame.
 
In the deciding set, the Eagles used a huge 11-3 run to put Milwaukee on its heels. The Panthers would not go away quietly, however, rattling off a 9-2 run of their own to pull within one. EWU exchanged a kill and an error, and the Panthers had a chance down 14-13, but an unforced attack error handed the Eagles the win.
 
Milwaukee hit just .156 with 27 errors in the loss to EWU. The Panthers struggled serving, recording a season-high 11 errors.
 
Kiekhofer was a bright spot for the offense, leading with a season-high 17 kills and hitting .308. Heilemann joined in double digits for the third time this season as she totaled 12 kills.
 
Rylie Vaughn notched her third double-double of the year with 22 assists and 13 digs while Dore recorded 25 assists and nine digs.
 
Jess Grabowski recorded her fourth straight double figure dig match as she posted a team-high 24 digs.
 
No time off for the Panthers as they now face Saint Louis at 4:00 pm in Des Moines. Live stats are available on MKEPanthers.com.