Pre-Weekend Notes (PDF) | Live Stats & Live Video unavailable at TSU or APSU
Tennessee State | Austin Peay

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Fresh off their first league win of the season this week, Eastern Illinois volleyball is set to hit the road this weekend for Ohio Valley Conference action at Tennessee State and Austin Peay on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, respectively.

The Panthers, currently 8-7 overall and 1-2 in league action, opened the league slate at home this past weekend, going 1-2 over the course of the weekend.  EIU dropped a four set match to league favorite Morehead State on Friday and lost a five-set heartbreaker to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.

However, Eastern was able to battle back and pick up a four set victory over Murray State on Tuesday, snapping an eight match losing streak to the Racers in the process.

PRE-WEEKEND THOUGHTS FROM HEAD COACH KATE PRICE
“We are excited to get back into the gym and to get things going," said first year head coach Kate Price.  "We would like to keep the wins coming and start a little bit of streak, yet we need to take one match at a time. The first up one is Tennessee State, so we are preparing for that right now. They have big middle that scores a lot and a couple of their kids have good ball control. We are starting our scouting report now. I know that they do also have a tough serve, so we need to make sure our passing is on corp and on key. That will be the key cause we know that a couple of their jump servers will score, but we need to limit that and come back with something else on our end.”

ZWETTLER QUIETLY EARNS SPOT ON EIU's 1,000 KILL & DIG CLUBS
Needing only a few kills and digs to earn a spot on Eastern's prestigious 1,000 Kill and Dig Clubs, senior Alex Zwettler has placed her name into the Panther record books as she currently sports 1,051 and 1,036 career kills and digs, respectively. With a lot more action to be seen this season the outside hitter, and most recently starting libero, will assuredly continue to add to those numbers.
She is only the 14th and 23rd all-time Panther volleyball player to be named to the 1,000 Kill and Dig Clubs, respectively.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS OF TENNESSEE STATE
The first opponent this weekend will be the TENNESSEE STATE squad, who are currently 3-9 overall, 1-3 in OVC action and sport a 1-2 home record so far in 2010. 

Leading the team with 105 kills is Santia Sanders, plus she has 10 aces, 101 digs and 21 total blocks under her belt. A close second is returner Shaquita Williams, with 98 kills, 27 blocks and owning the squad's best serve with 27 aces. 

Vicmari Prospero currently has the top TSU hitting mark of .306 and is a force at the net with a team-high 37 total roofs. In other defensive numbers, Kamille King's 126 digs tops the Tiger lineup,
Erika Moss runs the offense and has 8.69 assists-per-set so far this year for 339 total assists. 

Quick look at the EIU/TSU series history shows that the Panthers have pretty much owned the Tigers via a 22-4 all-time lead in the previous meetings. However, TSU actually split with EIU last season, downing the Panthers in Charleston, but EIU turned the tables and beat the Tigers on their own home court as well. TSU actually have a regular-season OVC title to their credit, winning it back in 2005, while surprisingly everyone by capturing the league tournament title, and NCAA Tournament berth, in 2007.

QUICK LOOK AT THE LADY GOVS OF AUSTIN PEAY
AUSTIN PEAY will entertain the Panthers on Saturday afternoon, after prior to hosting Southeast Missouri on Friday evening are currently 12-3 overall and 3-1 in league play. The Lady Govs actually went on a 10-match winning streak early this season and lost to JSU for their lone OVC loss so far this year. 

Two Lady Govs are currently nailing over three kills per set, led by Nikki Doyle with 201 total put-a-ways, while Ilyanna Hernandez has 159 kills and a team-high 20 aces. Taylor Skinner's .309 attack is tops on the squad, plus she has collected 35 blocks on the year. 

However, Jessica Mollman actually leads the Lady Gov blocking game with 40 total roofs, plus she has 134 kills to her credit as well. Other defensive honors goes to libero Paige Economos, who has upped 244 total attacks to lead her squad in digs. 

The Panthers also lead the all-time Division I series history over Austin Peay, 15-13, but have actually lost the last four meetings to the Lady Govs. However, prior to the recent losing streak to APSU, EIU won six consecutive contests over the Govs from 2005 to 2007.

NEXT UP, PANTHERS WILL ENTERTAIN JSU & TECH NEXT WEEKEND
Following this weekend's road play in Tennessee, the Panthers will return home to entertain the defending OVC champion Jacksonville State squad on Friday night, and then host Tennessee Tech on Saturday afternoon. First serve is set for 7 pm and 2 pm, respectively.

FORMER EIU STANDOUT, ERICA GERTH, EARNS 'HALL OF FAME' HONOR
This past Saturday, one of the Panthers' top volleyball players of all-time, Erica Gerth Kelly (2001-04) earned the prestigious honor of being inducted into the EI Club 'Hall of Fame' and was honored at the football game and home volleyball match against Eastern Kentucky. 

The former OVC 'Player of the Year' not only left her mark in the Panther record books, helping EIU capture the 2004 OVC regular-season title, but she continues to lead various stat categories. The list includes owning top marks for career kills (1774), attempts (4850), and digs (1666), while placing third for all-time aces (171). She is also still listed in four single-match highs while continuing to rank in the OVC record books for attempts and kills, at third and fifth all-time, respectively. 

Also a killer in the classroom, Gerth was named an Academic All-America honoree twice while also earning three OVC Medal of Honor awards. 

Also in attendance at the EKU match were several former members of the 2004 championship squad who played alongside Gerth.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES CONTINUE TO MOUNT FOR KELSEY ORR
After earning three consecutive double-doubles at the recent Pitt Invitational, senior Kelsey Orr added three more top performances this past week. She added a 23 kill/16 dig match in the Panthers' five set win at Western Illinois on Sep. 20 and then over the weekend added a 10/11 and 19/14 kill-dig performance at home versus Morehead State and Murray State. 

Kelsey's seven double-doubles on the season currently leads all Panthers, while fellow senior Alex Zwettler owns the highest career tally for duos by current EIU players duos, as she recently earned her 40th career double-double (15 kills/10 digs), and the first of the season, in EIU's tough five-set loss to Bowling Green at the Pitt Invite.

LOCAL MATTOON PRODUCT REYNAE HUTCHINS HAS NICE HOMECOMING
Playing in only her second home match of the season, area standout Reynae Hutchinson notched the squad's top kill performance of the season as the Mattoon native crushed 26 kills in EIU's hard fought five-set loss to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday. By also upping 13 attacks, the outside hitter was also able to notch her first career double-double in the process. 

She followed that performance by adding 18 kills as Eastern took care of Murray State for the squad's first league win of the season.

BERENS' TOUGH SERVICE GAME CRUCIAL TO MURRAY STATE WIN
Sophomore Alison Berens' nice service game led all Panthers in EIU's four-set victory over visiting Murray State this past week, as she tallied five unreturnable serves to set a new career total for the O'Fallon native. Beren's 15.5 points scored in the win over the Racers was also a new all-time high for the middle hitter.

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