Box Score

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois volleyball fell to visiting Saint Louis in a four set affair (25-19, 22-25, 25-14, 25-22) on Tuesday (Oct. 23) evening in non-conference action, as the Panthers drop to 7-17 overall.

Senior Alison Berens led EIU on the court with a career-high 16 kills off a .464 middle attack.  She also assisted on three blocks.

Freshman Abby Saalfrank followed with 11 put-a-ways and added three blocks of her own, including a solo stuff.

The reigning OVC 'Setter of the Week', Marah Bradbury, dished out 44 assists and hit .556 behind six kills, as the newcomer came just one dig shy of earning an assist-dig double-double with nine ups.

Defensively, sophomore libero Kelsey Brooke finished with 19 digs and junior Stephanie Arnold led the Panthers with four blocks.

Saint Louis (8-16) had four players in double-digit kill figures, led by Lauren Baumet's 18 put-downs, while Megan Gilbert nailed 14 kills behind a .560 attack.  Carly Marcum added 12 additional kills, while Cassie Clarke registered an 11-kill, 43-assist and 14-dig triple-double while hitting an impressive .688 with zero attack miscues.  Defensively, libero Grace Bonoma upped 19 EIU attacks, while Marcum's seven blocks led the SLU net defense.

Meeting for the 20th time on the volleyball, but for the first time since 2003, the Billikens now own a 12-8 all-time DI series lead over the Panthers as the match featured 17 ties and three lead changes.  SLU has actually won the last nine meeting between the two regional squads.

Team-wise, SLU led EIU in kills (60-to-52), attack (.304-to-.221), assists (57-to-50), digs (56-to-52), blocks (ten-to-eight), and points (77.0-to-60.0).  The big stat of the game, however, was aces as the visitors registered seven unreturnable serves, while the Panthers had zero aces for the first time all season.

Following the recent season-long three-match homestand, the Panthers will not hit the road for a pair of Ohio Valley Conference contests this coming weekend, traveling to UT Martin and Southeast Missouri on Friday (Oct. 26) and Saturday (Oct. 27), with first serves set for 7 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.

Eastern will then return home next Tuesday (Oct. 30), to entertain I-70 rival IUPUI in the final regular-season non-conference matchup.

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