Boxscore (PDF)

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Junior Alison Berens, sophomore Reynae Hutchinson and freshman Katie Kirby each nailed 14 kills as Eastern Illinois won a four-set Ohio Valley Conference volleyball match at Austin Peay (24-26, 25-19, 25-20, 25-22) on Friday.

The win moves the Panthers to 4-10 overall and an even 2-2 in early league action. The victory at APSU also helped to snap a six-match losing streak to the Lady Govs (2-12/0-3), the defending OVC Tournament champs and NCAA Regional participants.

Hutchinson and Kirby also added 20 and 10 digs, respectively, as both outside hitters notched kill-dig double-doubles. It marks the sixth career duo-duo for Hutchinson, while Kirby has now registered four such performances this season alone.

Meanwhile, the 14 put-aways by Berens not only set a new career-high for the middle hitter, but her .333 mark also paced the EIU attack. The 14 kills for Kirby also tied her own single-game high that she collected earlier this year.

Earning her second consecutive complete match start at setter, freshman Jill Johnson dished out 48 assists and had a fine night offensively as well as she dumped four kills off zero errors to finish with a .400 attack. She came just two digs shy of earning her first career assist-dig double-double.

Defensively, senior Brittany Wallace recorded 12 digs, while junior Emily Franklin chipped in 10 of her own. Franklin also was one kill away from garnering her own double-double, yet her three aces on the night led all players on the court.

Sophomore Amy Martin tied Kirby with three block assists to help lead the Panther net defense.

In team stats, the Panthers out-paced the home Gov squad by registering more kills (60 to 55), a leading in attack (.241 to .178), assists (54 to 50), aces (four to two), blocks (13 to 10), and points (72.0 to 63.0).

However, Austin Peay did win the digging game via a 77 to 74 advantage, defensively.

The contest also featured an astounding 33 tie scores and 11 lead changes.

Three players also finished with double-digit kills for the Lady Govs, led by Lauren Henderson's 14 kills and followed by Nikki Doyle and Hillary Plybon with 13 and 10 put-a-ways, respectively.

Doyle's 19 digs also helped her earn her own double-double, while Paige Economos upped 25 EIU attacks to lead all players in digs.

The Panthers are set to continue the road swing through the Volunteer State, as EIU will battle Tennessee State at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

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