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CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Despite an early one-set lead, the Eastern Illinois volleyball was unable to hold on to the momentum, as visiting Austin Peay rallied to take a four-set Ohio Valley Conference match (17-25, 25-19, 25-21, 26-24) on Friday evening at Lantz Arena. The loss moves the Panthers to an even 14-14 on the season and fall to 6-9 in league play.

A quick look at the final statistics and one would assume the Panthers had actually won the match, as EIU topped the Lady Govs (21-6/12-4) in nearly every statistical category. That includes total kills (57 to 53), assists (53 to 49), digs (71 to 70), blocks (10 to eight), and points (70.0 to 68.0). APSU did ultimately win the hitting game (.224 to .211) and topped Eastern in serving with a seven to three ace advantage.

Leading all players, and playing in her final home weekend series, was senior Alex Zwettler, who notched her 48th career kill-dig double-double via 20 put-aways and 18 ups, as both stat totals led all players on the court. It also marked the 65th time she has registered double-digit kills and the 69th performance with 10-plus digs.

In fact, the outside hitter had enjoyed early double-digit kill and dig numbers just halfway through the second set.

Fellow senior Jorie Dieter and newcomer Reynae Hutchinson each chipped in nine kills, while sophomore middle Alison Berens added seven put-a-ways and a team-high .375 attack off 16 swings and just one error..

Defensively, Dieter led all Panthers with five blocks as she now has notched five or more stuff in 30 matches in her career. Berens and junior setter Chrissie Albers each added four roofs, while senior Erin Hake finished with three.

Junior libero Brittany Wallace finished with 14 digs while senior Kylie Cavanah added 10 ups off the Peay attack to now sport 14 career matches with double-digit dig numbers. Additionally, Cavanah also led all EIU players with two aces in the tough loss.

The match also featured the long awaited return of senior Kelsey Orr, who had been sidelined as of late due to a slight ankle injury. Coming off the bench, the outside hitter played two sets, nailing four kills and upping three APSU attack attempts.

In all four sets, the visitors enjoyed an early lead, some more than others. In the first set, after a 2-0 APSU advantage, EIU would tie it up at three-all off a Zwettler kill. The teams would battle back and forth until the Panthers jumped ahead after a 7-all tie. Peay was forced to use a timeout down 12-8 thanks to a Hutchinson slam. From that point on the Panthers were able to hold off the second place team in the OVC, not allowing them to come any closer than three points en route to the 25-17 opening set victory, 25-17, as Cavanah fired off her two aces for final two points.

The Lady Govs came out fired up in the second frame, jumping out to an early 9-1 lead as they took advantage of several Panther miscues to turn the momentum in their favor. EIU was unable to counter with their own run in the set, but did pull to within six points at one point, and made APSU wait at set-point as Eastern pulled to within six points again in the defeat, 25-19.

Set three was a classic side-out contest, with neither squad leading by more than a point up to 17-all. At that point, Peay would fire off two straight to force EIU to burn a timeout down, 19-17. Unfortunately that would be the closest the home squad would come within APSU as the Lady Govs took the 2-1 set lead via the 25-21 win.

The final frame started off slow once again for Eastern, as APSU lead 7-1 early on. However, the Panthers would very slowly cut into the lead with mini-bursts of points. However, the Govs would seem to counter with their own side out to stop the run and continue to lead. With APSU up 22-14, the match looked out of reach for the Panthers. However, with the crowd urging them on, EIU went on a 5-0 spurt to pull to within 22-17. Yet another Peay kill would give them 23-17 lead. At that point is was EIU, added by tough serving from Wallace, Dieter connected on a hit, followed by a put-down by Albers, then an APSU miscue, and finally kills from Zwettler and Berens would follow as the host squad miraculously tied the set at 23-all. With the crowd now on their feet, Peay was able to earn first match-point at 24-23, but Zwettler smashed a kill to tie it yet again. Unfortunately the Lady Govs used consecutive kills to survive the upset bid by the Panthers.

Jessica Mollmann and Ilyanna Hernandez paced the Lady Govs with 14 and 13 kills, respective, with Hernandez earning a double-double via the addition of 13 digs. Libero Paige Econoos had 15 digs, while Nikki Doyle and Sarah Alisaleh added 14 and 12 ups to the APSU total as well. Alisaleh dished out 42 assists and lead all players with four aces, while Taylor Skinner led the way at the net with five blocks.

The Panthers will need to regroup prior to tomorrow afternoon's home finale versus Tennessee State as EIU and the Tigers are each trying to battle for a spot in the six-team end-of-season OVC tournament. First serve is set for 2 pm at Lantz Arena, and following the contest five EIU Panthers -- Kylie Cavanah, Jorie Dieter, Erin Hake, Kelsey Orr, and Alex Zwettler -- will be honored for their contributions to the Panther program.

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