MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee volleyball team swept their way to a senior day victory trouncing the Oakland Golden Grizzlies Sunday afternoon, 25-17, 25-19, 25-17.
 
Fifth year Carmen Heilemann matched a season-high with 20 kills, while freshman of the year candidate Madi Malone chipped in with a double-double of 13 kills and 12 digs. Seniors Abby Koenen and Kleja Cerniauskaite also combined for 10 kills on the day.
 
"Oakland was very good defensively today," said Panther head coach Susie Johnson. "We had to work very hard to get kills. Rylie [Vaughn] and Jess [Grabowski] had a great defensive match. Carmen did what Carmen does and scored immensely for us today."
 
In the first set, Milwaukee (20-8, 14-2) pulled away after the 8-6 scoring mark, scoring four-straight points, highlighted by two Heilemann kills. The Panthers had another four-point scoring spree mid-way through the set to take a commanding 19-9 lead, and took a one set lead after a Rylie Vaughn service ace.
 
The Black & Gold exchanged points back and forth throughout almost half the second set, but he Panthers finally broke through after another Heilemann kill and never looked back. At 12-11, the German native had already accumulated 14 kills with a .414 hitting percentage. A four-point scoring spree closed the second set to put the Panthers up 2-0.
 
Milwaukee kept the momentum and carried it to the third set where MKE led the entire time and eventually went on, yet another, 4-0 run to end the match.
 
Vaughn dished out 39 assists, while digging out 20 for the Black & Gold. Senior Jess Grabowski also recorded double-digit digs with 18.
 
The Panthers held the Golden Grizzlies to a .168 hitting percentage, and out-dug Oakland 68-58.
 
MKE will close out the regular season on the road with trips to Robert Morris and Youngstown State November 11^th and 13^th. First serve on the 11^th is set for 5 p.m. (CT) at RMU, and a 5 p.m. (CT) start time at Youngstown on the 13^th.
 
Follow along this season with the Panthers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well as the web at MKEPanthers.com.