Boxscore (PDF) | Photo Gallery (Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois volleyball posted a valiant effort versus Morehead State at home on Saturday, pushing the Ohio Valley Conference leading Eagles to the limit before falling in three (25-12, 25-21, 34-32).  The loss drops the Panthers to 4-13 overall and 2-5 in league play.

The outside hitting trio of junior Emily Franklin, sophomore Reynae Hutchinson and newcomer Katie Kirby each notched nine kills to pace the Panther offense.

Franklin led all players on the court in net defense with five blocks, all assisted.  Classmate Kat Gosewisch, meanwhile, tied Franklin with a service ace each, as Kat finished with 13 digs, followed closely by Hutchinson with 11 ups.

Aryn Bohannon and Ellie Roberson paced the Eagle attack via 13 and 11 kills, respectively.  Emma Keough finished with a .471 attack with just one hitting miscue.  While defensively, libero Leslie Schellhaas led all players on the court with 19 digs.  She was the lone MSU player to notch double-digit digs.

In team-numbers, Morehead State (11-5/6-0) was able to hold on and top the Panthers in total kills (46 to 35), attack (.218 to .122), assists (43 to 33), aces (nine to two), digs (48 to 36), blocks (seven to five), and points (62.0 to 42.0).

After getting off to a slow start en route to the opening set 25-12 loss, the Panthers were able to hold their own against the Eagles as both teams would combine for 21 ties and eight lead changes over the final two frames.

That included going past the 30-point mark in the final thrilling set, as the Panthers held off the Eagles on five consecutive match-points.  Unfortunately, EIU was unable to take advantage of three set-points of their own at 30-29, 31-30 and 32-31.

Despite today's MOR win, EIU still continues to enjoy a slim 15-14 all-time series lead over the Eagles in the all-time series, yet Eastern has now lost nine straight to the squad from the Bluegrass state.

Panthers return to league play in a mid-week match at arch-rival Southeast Missouri on Tuesday evening.  First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. in Cape Girardeau, Mo.  Earlier in the season, EIU dropped a three-set home match to SEMO to open OVC action.

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