Weekend Release (PDF)
CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois volleyball will finish the 2008 season on the road this coming weekend as the Panthers (4-23/1-15 in OVC) head to Tennessee State (8-16/6-10) for a Friday evening match, followed by a Saturday afternoon contest at Austin Peay (19-10/11-5).
CAT FIGHT WITH TSU TIGERS
Friday's meeting with Tennessee State will be the 24th all-time, with EIU holding a sizeable 20-3 series lead. That includes winning the first meeting this season at home, which broke a program-high streak of 11 straight matches lost in straight sets. The Panthers gutted out a 3-2 win (32-34, 25-16, 18-25, 25-16, 18-16). The win over the Lady Tigers was EIU's first win of the season since Sept. 6 when Eastern swept Chicago State at home at their own Panther Challenge.
Leading the Tiger squad is senior middle blocker Christian Lowe, who has 325 kills heading into the weekend and a .186 hitting mark, as well as being a defensive threat at the net with a team-high 57 total blocks (17 solo and 40 assisted). In the first meeting with EIU she led her team with 17 kills in the five-set loss. The Tigers are quarterbacked by the duo of senior Candace Saleaumua and junior transfer Yaman Padilla-Collazo, with 283 and 548 assists, respectively. Saleaumua also leads her team in digs with 316, while libero Terakka Walker has 275. Junior Shawna Ruiz sports a wicked serve to lead her team with 22 aces.
Tennessee State trails their opposition in nearly every statistical category, including kills (1116 to 1163), hitting (.155 to .199), assists (1003 to 1057), aces (100 to 159), and digs (1417 to 1447), but win the blocking game with 154, compared to 136 for their opponents.
SEASON ENDS AT AUSTIN PEAY
The Panthers will finish the year on Saturday afternoon at Austin Peay, as the two OVC foes meet for the 26th time with EIU holding a 15-10 lead in the all-time series history.
After sweeping the Lady Govs in both meetings last season, the Panthers dropped the first meeting back in October as APSU came into Charleston and swept EIU, which was the 11th straight loss for the Panthers at that point in the season. Last year EIU finished the season against Austin Peay as well, winning at home in four sets.
Prior to hosting SEMO on Friday night, the Lady Govs are led by junior outside hitter Stephanie Champine with 362 kills behind a .239 attack. Also with 300+ kills is sophomore middle Jessica Mollman with 336 and a .270 hitting percentage. Junior right side hitter Kristin Distler sports the Lady Gov's best hitting mark with a .274 percentage and 261 kills. Just like TSU, the Govs are led by two setters as sophomore Sarah Alisaleh and freshman Marie Mullins have tallied 660 and 556 assists, respectively. Alisaleh also leads with 55 aces. Defensively, Lady Gov senior Caroline Frens has earned 432 ups in the back row to lead all passers. Sophomore Taylor Skinner is a force in the middle with 57 total blocks, including 10 solo roofs.
A quick look at team stats shows that APSU leads every statistical mark over their opponents, except for total blocks. They lead in kills (1491 to 1395), hitting (.228 to .202), assists (1399 to 1275), aces (175 to 117), and digs (1918 to 1791). They are behind in blocks (144 to 195).
PANTHERS FAIL TO MAKE OVC TOURNAMENT
For the third straight season, the Panthers have failed to qualify for the six-team Ohio Valley Conference Tournament which is set to take place on Nov. 20-23, hosted by the regular-season champion. In 2006 EIU finished in 9th place, followed by an 8th place 2007 standing.
The last time Eastern made the tournament, the Panthers hosted it. In 2005, EIU earned the right to host the tourney off a coin flip, as both the Panthers and TSU Tigers were tied for first place at the time the decision on who would host the tourney was to be made. Since the championship match was to be televised live on ESPNU that season and due to scheduling reasons the location needed to be determined in advance of the end of the regular-season. The third seeded Panthers lost to SEMO in five sets in the quarterfinal round, while JSU eventually won the program's first of two straight NCAA bids, upsetting top seed EKU in a five-stanza thriller.
Please click link above to view entire pre-weekend release.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
