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CHARLESTON, Ill. -- The Eastern Illinois volleyball squad hit the road one final time this weekend, traveling to the volunteer state to battle Austin Peay and Tennessee State in Ohio Valley Conference action.  First serve at APSU and TSU is set for 7 pm Friday evening and 2 pm Saturday afternoon, respectively.

Earlier in the season at home, Eastern dropped a three-set match to the Lady Govs and a four-set affair to the Tigers. Since that September weekend, the Panthers have gone 1-6 overall in road matches and currently sport an 8-16 overall and 1-10 league mark.

FINAL ROAD SWING THIS WEEKEND
The Panthers take to the road one final time this weekend, traveling to Tennessee to take on Austin Peay and Tennessee State in Ohio Valley Conference action. Earlier in the season at home, Eastern dropped a three-set match to Austin Peay and a four-set affair to Tennessee State. Since that weekend in September, the Panthers have gone 1-6 overall in road matches.

NINE-MATCH LOSING STREAK SNAPPED
Last Saturday afternoon, the Panthers took a four-set win at SIU-Edwardsville to end a season-long nine-match win drought, going nearly a full month without a victory. The all-time longest EIU losing streak came about in 2002, when the team went 12 straight contests without a win. Last season, the squad had an 11-match losing streak, losing each in three sets.

RE-SCOUTING AUSTIN PEAY
APSU's Stephanie Champine is the main force behind the Lady Govs squad, as the senior leads with 326 kills (4.29 kps), and ranks second for total digs with 270. Junior Taylor Skinner leads the team in three stat categories, first for attack percentage (.263), again for aces (27) and total blocks (50). Fellow junior Jessica Mollman ranks second with 46 blocks and is one of five players with 100+ kills on the season. Sophomore libero Paige Economos naturally is tops for total digs with 318 ups (4.18 dps).  In the first meeting with EIU, Champine took the match into her hands behind 20 total kills and a .362 attack, committing just three hitting errors. Sophomore Ilyanna Hernandez had a nice match as well, adding 10 kills to the APSU total of 44 put-a-ways.

ANOTHER LOOK AT TENNESSEE STATE
Prior to a Friday night home match with SEMO, sophomore Shaquita Williams leads four Tiger players with 100+ kills, having registered 164 (2.28 kps) on the season. Senior setter Yamari Padilla-Collazo is a force with 648 assists, and leads her squad in attack percentage at .270 off 79 total put-a-ways (1.08 kps). Junior Vicmari Prospero, meanwhile, not only leads her team with 49 total blocks, including 47 assisted stops, but her lethal serve has her ranked as the best server in the OVC with 30 total. Defensively, both sophomore Terakka Walker and freshman Calasia Williams have identical dig numbers with 220 apiece.  In the first EIU/TSU meeting, the stat of the match was hitting, as the Tigers topped the Panthers with a .217 to .068 advantage. That included 33 Eastern hitting errors as compared to just 18 for TSU as EIU had two individuals sets with negative hitting. Plus the Panthers got topped in the blocking game, which is a rarity this season, as TSU doubled-up the Eastern total of five.

CHRISSIE ALBERS NOTCHES FIRST CAREER 40+/10+ DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Sophomore transfer Chrissie Albers started as quarterback in both of EIU's matches at SEMO and SIUE this past weekend. She came to EIU following one season at Winthrop. Her 43 assists and 15 digs in the four-set win over the Cougars marked her first-ever 40+/10+ assist/dig performance. Not only that, but the 43 dishes to Panther hitters topped her previous assist high of 38 earned against Charleston Southern last fall when she played at Winthrop.

SECOND SET JINX
This season whenever the Panther squad has dropped the second frame of the match, odds are good that Eastern will eventually lose the match. Stats show that EIU has lost the second set 14 times and are 0-14 in those matchups. On the bright side however, the squad is a combined 8-2 when picking up a second set win. The only other set where the Panthers have a winning record is following the break, as EIU is 7-2 when winning the third frame, yet are just 1-14 when losing it.

WALLACE ON A DEFENSIVE STREAK
Sophomore libero Brittany Wallace has notched double-digit dig numbers in 14 straight contests, dating back to Sep. 12 versus Ball State. Overall she has 20 total matches with 10+ ups, which includes tallying 15+ digs in 12 matches this season, and 14 times in her career.

BLOCKING IS THE NAME OF THE GAME
The Panthers are having a steller season for blocks as eight players have registered five or more stops a combined 27 times. Leading the way is freshman Stephanie Arnold with seven such performances, including earning eight total blocks three times. Senior Jessica Wheeler and junior Jorie Dieter, meanwhile, each have recorded five or more stops in six matches. Dieter has a career total of 12 contests with five+ roofs.

PANTHERS FINALLY SET TO ENJOY SIX-MATCH HOMESTAND
Following this weekend, the Panthers will finish the regular-season with six consecutive home matches over the course of three weekends. The six straight contests in Lantz Arena is a season-high. However, Eastern is currently just 1-4 overall in home matches thus far this year. The lone win came against instate foe Illinois-Chicago in non-conference action back in early September. The four losses were all OVC matchups. 

.... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID