MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee volleyball team will conclude the regular season on the road with trips to Robert Morris and Youngstown State beginning Thursday, November 11 and Saturday the 13^th.
 
If the Black & Gold win out, they will claim the regular season title – their first since 2013. Two wins would also make Milwaukee the first in Horizon League history to 300 league wins.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Robert Morris is coming off of a 3-1 loss to Youngstown State. The Colonials earned a first set victory over the Penguins, but dropped the next three and fall short of victory. The YSU match up was the only match for RMU last week.
 
Identical to RMU, the Penguins played just one match last week. The Penguins are currently on a two-match win streak with wins over RMU and Purdue Fort Wayne.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee and Robert Morris have met just twice with the Panthers taking a pair of sweeps against the Colonials. Both MKE wins came at home.
 
The Panthers have dominated the all-time series against Youngstown State, owning a 36-9 record. Milwaukee has won five straight against YSU dating back to 2018, dropping just one set in that stretch. 
 
WEEKLY WRAP UP
The Panthers rebounded after a two-loss stint to Northern Kentucky and Wright State and added two sweeps over Cleveland State and Oakland to the win column.
 
CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY
Despite dropping two matches, Milwaukee is still in control of the Horizon League with just four contests remaining on the regular season schedule. The Panthers sit at 14-2 in the Horizon League, one win ahead of Northern Kentucky (13-2). If MKE would win out, the Panthers would clinch their 14th regular season title and first since 2013. 
 
HEILEMANN HAMMER
It was yet another impressive week for Carmen Heilemann, who is putting together a career year. Fresh of a Horizon League Player of the Week honor on November 10, the fifth-year senior averaged 5.83 kills, 6.33 points/set, three service aces with 11 digs while hitting .446 for Milwaukee. 
 
Heilemann has over 300 kills this season for the second time in her career. Her 3.18 kills per set and .332 attack percentage are both career-best marks. Heilemann has also totaled 26 aces and 102 digs this season, both career-bests. With 48 blocks, she is just four short of another career-best. 
 
In league play, Heilemann currently ranks third in attack percentage (.354), fourth in kills per set (3.63), first in service aces (0.51), and second in points per set (4.44).
 
In the win over UIC on October 12, Heilemann became just the 17th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. 
 
HAPPY TO BE HOME
The Panthers are no doubt happy to be back at the Klotsche Center where they've won seven consecutive matches. In 10 matches, the Panthers are averaging 13.65 kills, 12.86 assists, and 15.11 digs per set with a .269 attack percentage.
 
In the most recent five-match homestand, the Panthers went a perfect 5-0 and averaged 13.63 kills, 12.81 assists, 14.56 digs, 2.06 blocks, and 2.69 aces per set while hitting .342 and holding opponents to a .087 attack percentage.  
 
Milwaukee is 161-47 (.774) at home against league opponents since 1990. With just two regular season home matches left, the Panthers clinched another overall winning home record, their 24th in the last 32 seasons.
 
NO HOLDING BACK
From October 14 to October 22, not only did the Panthers notch four consecutive sweeps, but they did so in impressive fashion. Milwaukee has knocked off its opponent in 65 minutes or less in each of those four contests.
 
In three of the four matches, Milwaukee has held the opponent to under 10 points in at least one set. 
 
The last time the Panthers held an opponent under 10 points in a set that was not the fifth was against UIC on November 15, 2019. MKE took a 25-9 win in the first set against the Flames.
 
CLICKING ON ALL CYLINDERS
Offense has been a big reason for the Panthers' success this season and their national rankings can back that up. 
 
Milwaukee leads the nation in total kills (1,383) and assists (1,309). The Panthers are also 28th in attack percentage at .266. That number would rank second all-time in program history.  
 
Through 26 matches, MKE has recorded 10 contests with an attack percentage of at least .300, going 10-0 in those matches. 
 
DOMINATING ON DEFENSE
Offense has been a major key for the Panthers, but the defense has been right there as well.
 
Milwaukee ranks third in the league in digs per set (15.57) and opponent hitting percentage (.190). The Panthers' 1,328 digs rank 17th in all of NCAA Division I. MKE has held the opposition to a hitting percentage under .200 on 14 different occasions.
 
MKE is holding opponents to a league-best 11.64 kills per set and 10.90 assists per set. 
 
Jess Grabowski currently sits fourth in the league with 4.18 digs.
 
SETTER SENSATION
With 19 digs in the 3-1 win over UIC on October 12, Rylie Vaughn reached 1,000 for her career, becoming just the fifth player in program history to do so. 
 
Vaughn has been on fire since league play began and leads the league in assists per set (11.51), is seventh in aces per set (0.37), and is also averaging 3.37 digs per frame with just four matches remaining. 
 
The senior has logged 14 double-doubles this season including a pair of 20-20 matches. She is tied for second in program history with five career 20-20 matches.
 
PLAYER OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE
Ari Miller showed she was human last week, as Wright State held her to just eight kills, but the junior has still put together a Player of the Year caliber season.
 
Through 14 matches of the league schedule, Miller leads the league in hitting percentage (.391), and is third in kills per set (3.67), and points per set (4.30). 
 
She has at least 10 kills in 21 of 26 matches this year and has hit over .300 20 times.  
 
Among NCAA Division I, Miller is 43rd in overall hitting percentage (.379), 31st in total kills (356), and 25th in total points (411.0).
 
Miller has earned Horizon League Player of the Week four times. 
 
THE GREAT GRABOWSKI
Jess Grabowski added 50 digs to her total last week and now has 1,784 which surpasses Myanna Ruiz for third on the program's career digs list. The senior is just 145 digs away from Lauren Felsing's school record of 1,929 digs per set, which was set in 2009. She is also just 92 digs away from surpassing Becky Peters' mark for second on the program record list. 
 
Grabowski currently owns the program's top digs per set mark of 4.78. 
 
ROAD WARRIORS
Following the home tournament to open the year on August 27-29, Milwaukee had a stretch of 11 consecutive matches on the road, nine of which were at non-conference tournaments. The Panthers 8-3 during that stretch to finish in non-conference play.  
 
STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT 
With the win over Purdue Fort Wayne on September 24, the Panthers improved to 13-2 in Horizon League openers under head coach Susie Johnson. 
 
COMING OUT PARTY
Freshman Madi Malone took over at the Shamrock Invitational and dominated with 61 kills, a .329 attack percentage, and 41 digs. The outside hitter found her groove against the Bearcats, leading MKE to a win with 24 kills and a .404 attack percentage. She recorded her first of three double-doubles that Friday, adding 10 digs. The next match, she totaled 18 kills and a career-high 17 digs and finished the weekend with 19 kills and 14 digs in the win against Notre Dame. 
 
Her 24 kills marks the first time a Milwaukee freshman reached 20 since teammate Ari Miller totaled 21 in 2019. 
 
For her efforts, Malone was named Horizon League Player of the Week for the first time in her career. 
 
PRESEASON POLL
The Horizon League released the 2021 preseason poll on Wednesday afternoon and Milwaukee was predicted to finish fourth, voted by the league coaches.
 
The Panthers earned 94 total poll points. Two-time defending champions Wright State picked up nine of 11 first-place votes and 119 total points as they were predicted to finish on top. UIC, who finished 14-3 overall a season ago, edged Northern Kentucky by one poll point with 98 total. Both the Flames and Norse received one first-place vote.
 
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Thanks to ESPN+, Milwaukee volleyball will be readily available for viewers. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform. 
 
ESPN+, which will host the Horizon League women's soccer, men's soccer, and volleyball championships, offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content, and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $6.99 a month (or $69.99 per year) and cancel at any time.
 
For road games, visit MKEPanthers.com for live coverage links.