Box Score (PDF)

CHARLESTON, Ky. -- Junior Emily Franklin nailed 20-kills as Eastern Illinois clawed past visiting Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee Tech in a three-set sweep (25-21, 27-25, 25-19) on Friday night.  The win upped the Panther record to 10-19 overall and 7-11 in league play.

Franklin hit .304 in the match and recorded her fourth career kill-dig double-double with a team-high 11 digs.  Her 20 put-aways came just four shy of tying her all-time tally.

Classmate Alison Berens chipped in eight kills off a team-high .429 attack, while sophomore Stephanie Arnold connected on seven kills.

Senior setter Chrissie Albers dished out 39 assists and ended with a team-best three service aces, which ties her career mark.

In defensive play, the Panthers were led by freshman Kelsey Roggemann at the net with four blocks, followed by three for Arnold and two via Berens.

Team-wise, EIU out-paced the Golden Eagles (4-23/3-14) in nearly every stat category, including kills (47 to 31), attack (.207 to .106), assists (43 to 27), aces (seven to two), digs (45 to 42), and points (60.0 to 44.0).  TTU did win the blocking game with a 12.0 to six advantage over the Panthers.

The Golden Eagles were led by Natalie Penrod's 11 kill night.  Meanwhile, Kelsey Gray had a nice match as she added eight kills, finished with a .467 attack off just one error, and roofed eight total blocks, including two solo stuffs.  Tech libero Allison May would lead all players on the court with 16 digs and registered the lone TTU ace.

The match featured 25 ties and 14 lead changes as nearly every set featured classic sideout play, as well as multi-point runs by both teams.

With the opening set tied at eight-all, the Panthers scored six straight, but the visitors returned the favor with eight points of their own to take over the lead at 16-14.  The Panthers would battle back to tie it at 19-all off a nice kill by Berens and then continue to out-score Tech the rest of the way to earn the 25-21 first set win

In the second set, after a six-all tie, the Panthers would suddenly find themselves ahead at 13-8, but once again Tech would turn things around and would eventually retake the lead at 18-16, requiring an EIU timeout.  TTU would maintain a one point lead up to 22-21 and eventually have the serve with a 24-22 set point lead.  But the Panthers would class back off of a kill by Arnold and a Tech ball handling error to tie it at 24-all.  A Brittany Wallace service ace give EIU their first set-point at 25-24, but TTU again knotted the score thanks to a kill by Penrod.  However, consecutive put-aways from Berens would help secure the 27-25 EIU win and early 2-0 match lead. 

Following the break, the Golden Eagles turned the momentum as they jumped ahead at 8-3, forcing EIU head coach Kate Price to burn an early timeout.  Tech extended their advantage to 13-7, but that's when the Panthers made their move.  Two consecutive EIU kills and a TTU error would pull Eastern to within 13-10, forcing the Golden Eagles to have use a timeout.  Unfortunately things continued to go against TTU as the visitors committed four straight errors to help the Panthers eventually even the score at 15-all.  Tied at 17-apiece, the Panthers would finish the match off an eight-two run to earn the season sweep of Tech with the 25-19 victory.

With the win, the Panthers now own a 22-14 all-time Division I series lead over the Golden Eagles.  Plus Eastern has swept TTU in both regular-season matchups for the first time ever in their previous 36 matchups.

EIU will continue their end-of-season home stand tomorrow evening, hosting OVC foe Jacksonville State at 6 p.m.

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