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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Four years, one month and eight days.  That is how long the Eastern Illinois volleyball squad has been waiting to defeat Ohio Valley Conference arch-rival Southeast Missouri, and on Friday evening the Panthers almost made the long wait worth it, as EIU scratched out a thrilling five set win over the visiting Redhawks (25-19, 21-25, 26-24, 14-25, 15-13).

The win snaps a nine-match losing streak to SEMO, dating back to Oct. 5, 2005, and helped improve the Panthers to 11-18 overall and 4-12 in the OVC, while SEMO finished up the regular-season slate at 13-17 and 8-10 in league play.  Ironically, the last Panther victory over SEMO also came via a five-frame home marathon.

“I'm excited for the girls,” said first year head coach Alan Segal. “They worked hard and fought for every point tonight. It's just too bad we couldn't have played like we did tonight all season, because if we had, we definitely would have finished better against Murray State and Jacksonville State, to name just a few.  Instead, we dropped several close matches, but we deserved to pick up a win like we did tonight."

The Panthers were led by junior outside hitter Kelsey Orr, who notched her 15th career kill-dig double-double behind a new match high of 25 kills, while adding 11 digs.  Her 79 attacks on the night came just seven short of tying the school-record attack mark of 86 swings set by former EIU standout Erica Gerth back in 2004.

“It feels good to be back playing full-time again,” said Orr. “Especially considering the up and down season I've had injury-wise. It's a blast to play right now, especially having my teammates backing me up. We are having fun out there and enjoying the game.  SEMO is a very solid and tough team that plays very consistently, so it was great to defeat such a good team. Overall it was a great win for us and great win for EIU volleyball.”

Fellow junior Alex Zwettler finished with 15 kills and 17 digs to up her career duo-duo numbers to 39 all-time and 17th this season alone.  Transfer setter Chrissie Albers earned her fifth assist-dig double-double as well in the win, dishing out 50 assists while also upping 16 attacks.

Segal had high praise for the two outside hitters.  “Al and Kelsey played really, really well tonight. Kelsey got a bit tired towards the end of the match which accounted for some of her late errors, while Alex did a good job putting the ball away when we needed a point. Team-wise, except for the end of the second and fourth sets, I think we passed pretty well and played good defense, although our blocking wasn't the best tonight.”

Segal continued.  "Overall, it was a good team win and I'm really happy for the girls.  We needed a win like that. Now we'll get ready for senior night tomorrow and hopefully play well and get a win.”

Five different Panthers finished with double-digit dig numbers with sophomore libero Brittany Wallace leading with 27, tying her career high.  Senior Jessica Wheeler added 11 digs of her own and came up just two kills shy of earning her fifth duo-duo of the season.

SEMO was led by freshman Emily Maher's 17 kills and eight blocks, while junior Emily Hughes and senior Amanda Rickhoff chipped in 15 and 10 kills, respectively.  Senior libero Molly Davis finished with 18 digs, while Rickhoff led all players on the court with 29 ups.

The match featured an amazing 44 ties and 28 lead changes.  The Panthers broke away from a 16-all tie in the opening set as Kelsey Orr nailed four consecutive kills to help EIU take a 21-16 lead.  A kill from junior Jorie Dieter would eventually give the Panthers the early match win, 25-19.

The second set started tight with neither squad able to lead by more than two points, until EIU went ahead 12-9, forcing a SEMO timeout.  However, the Panthers would maintain the three-point lead and eventually lead 20-16.  However, SEMO would finish with an 9-1 run to gut out the 25-21 win to tie the match at one set apiece.

Following the break, both squads played nearly classic side-out ball to begin the third stanza with neither squad leading by more than two points until EIU pulled ahead 21-17, thanks to a couple of SEMO miscues.  But once again, the visitors would recover and pull even at 23-all off a Rickhoff put-away, which would require a Panther timeout.  Following an EIU hitting error, the squad from Cape Girardeau, Mo. was suddenly serving for set point, up 24-23, but a timely kill by junior Erin Hake on the right side knotted the set yet again, at 24.  Following two crucial kills from Orr, the Panthers regained the momentum with the critical 26-24 victory.

Unfortunately, Eastern was unable to maintain the momentum in the fourth set, as SEMO pulled away from an 11-all tie to easily win the frame, 25-14, thanks to a huge 14-3 run.  Suddenly the match was tied two sets a piece.

The final frame also featured several streaks by both squads.  EIU lead early at 4-2, but SEMO would pull even at 8-all after the teams switched sides of the court.  Suddenly the visitors were up 9-8 thanks to an EIU error, but another kill from Orr would tie the game at 9-all.  The Panthers would move ahead off consecutive Redhawk miscues and a crucial service ace to lead 12-9, which necessitated a SEMO timeout.  The Redhawks would counter yet again with three straight points of their own, forcing EIU to burn a timeout.  Another unforced Panther hitting error tied the set at 13-all, but a critical SEMO service error by senior setter Sarah Barth gave Eastern the one-point advantage, which was followed by a huge kill by Zwettler to seal the victory, 15-13.

The two squads were meeting for the 36th time and the EIU win helped pull the Panthers to within 12-24 in the all-time series history.  Eastern also pulled to 2-2 in five-set matches this season while SEMO fell to 5-3 in matches that went the distance.

Tomorrow evening the Panthers host future OVC rival SIU-Edwardsville in the home finale at 7 pm, with the annual senior recognition ceremony to proceed the first serve.

On Sunday, there is a good possibility that the Panthers will be rescheduling a matchup versus Eastern Kentucky, which was originally supposed to be played last weekend, but was cancelled due to the untimely death of assistant women's basketball coach Jackie Moore.  Since the Colonels stunned OVC leader Jacksonville State earlier on Friday evening and Eastern downed SEMO, EKU's chances of making the six-team end-of-season league tournament improved considerably.  If EKU disposes of Tennessee Tech at home on Saturday afternoon, the Panthers and Colonels will be required to meet at 3 pm on Sunday to officially determine the sixth seed of the tournament.  The EIU-EKU match will be held down in Evansville, Ind. on the Purple Ace's campus.  More information regarding this late-season schedule addition will be forthcoming.

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