Box Score
Photo Gallery (Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois volleyball swept visiting Murray State (25-11, 25-19, 25-22) in Ohio Valley Conference west division action on Friday evening, as the Panthers hit a season-high .418 for the match.

The sweep, the first three-set win by the Panthers this season, helped EIU improve to 6-16 overall and 3-6 in league play.  Eastern also earned the regular-season sweep of the Racers, who drop to 4-15/2-7.

Reynae Hutchinson nailed 13 kills off a season-best .379 attack, while the junior also registered a pair of aces as well.

Alison Berens chipped in 12 put-a-ways behind a blistering .647 attack.  With just one hitting miscue, the senior tallied her best hitting mark of her career.

But those two weren't the only ones having a steller night hitting-wise as junior Stephanie Arnold finished with eight kills off a new season-high .467 clip, while freshmen Kayla Nesbitt and Abby Saalfrank hit .389 and .385 with nine and six kills of their own, respectively.

Newcomer Marah Bradbury dished out 43 assists, while defensively sophomore Kelsey Brooke led all players on the court with 18 digs, while Arnold once again made her presence known at the net versus the Racers with five stuffs.  Last week in the four-set win at Murray State, Arnold drilled a career-high 11 blocks to earn OVC 'Defensive Player of the Week' kudos.

Meeting for the 38th time, the two squads finished the match with just eight ties and one lead change, as EIU opened the match on fire, hitting an amazing .704 in the first set with zero errors.  In fact, the Racers twice called timeout in the frame and the first time EIU hit .800 (12-0-15), while dropping slight to .727 (16-0-22) in the final MSU break in the action.  The Panthers would ride the hot attack for the easy 25-11 first set victory.

Eastern actually didn't register their first team hitting miscue until the 18-14 point of the second set, but by that time the Panthers would rally to earn the 25-19 second set win.  EIU hit .483 in the frame with just two errors.

The visiting Racers would counter with an early lead to open the third set, eventually enjoying a 10-5 advantage at one point.  But the Panthers would go on a 9-2 run to force the Racers to burn a timeout and from that point on EIU would never trail again en route to the 25-22 win.

Team-wise, the Panthers dominated the visitors in nearly every stat category, including kills (50-to-30), attack (.418-to-.167), assists (49-to-29), digs (50-to-31), blocks (six-to-three), and points (60.0-to-37.0).  Both squads nailed four aces apiece, while MSU had one more service error.

The season sweep of the Racers marks the first such accomplishment by the Panthers over their OVC rivals since 2005 EIU campaign.

Eastern continues a season-long homestand tomorrow afternoon, hosting the Austin Peay at 2 p.m., as the Lady Govs come to town on a five-match winning streak after earning a five-set win at SIU Edwardsville this evening.

A free kids clinic and autograph session is set to take place following the match.

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