Box Score

Photo Gallery (Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Despite having four Panthers register double-digit kills for the second consecutive match, Eastern Illinois volleyball fell to visiting IUPUI in a four-set affair (25-23, 20-25, 25-12, 29-27) on Tuesday evening to finish up the non-conference portion of the schedule.

The Panther loss moves EIU to 8-19 overall, while the co-Summit League leading Jaguars of IUPUI improved to 18-9 on the season and pull to within 4-3 of Eastern in the all-time series history.

Reynae Hutchinson once again led all players on the court with 15 kills and digs as the junior nabbed her 23rd career double-double, while also hitting .214 for the contest.

Senior middle Alison Berens and freshman right-side Abby Saalfrank followed with 14 put-a-ways, each, as Berens also paced the Panther net defense with a team-high six blocks.  Saalfrank, meanwhile, hit .462 in the contest with just two miscues.

Junior middle Stephanie Arnold chipped in 11 additional kills and a team-best .529 attack with only a couple of hitting errors as well, while adding two blocks to the team tally.

Setter Marah Bradbury nabbed her fifth assist-dig duo-duo performance during her first season as a Panther, behind a career-high 58 assists and 12 digs.  She helped lead the EIU squad to a .251 attack and registered the lone Panther ace.

Freshman Stephanie Wallace, who has recently taken back the starting libero spot in the EIU lineup, led Eastern with 16 digs.

IUPUI was led by Kaitlyn Hickey's 20 kills and .390 attack, while Moriah Fair and Kelsey Hoefer added 17 and 14 put-downs, respectively.  The setting duo of Alexis Meeks and Ellyn Jones dished out 29 and 23 assists, respectively, with Jones earning her own double-double with the addition of 10 digs.  Libero Beth Howard's 23 digs led all players on the court.

Team-wise, the Panthers actually topped the visiting Jags in total kills (67-to-60), attacks (167-to-150, assists (65-to-59), and digs (60-to-58).  IUPUI, meanwhile out-paced EIU in attack (.287-to-.251), aces (five-to-1) and blocks (12.0-to-nine).  Ironically, both squads registered 77.0 total points in the marathon match.

Meeting for the seventh time, but the first since 2003, the match featured 20 ties and eight lead changes, as Eastern actually out-hit IUPUI, .353-to-.263, in the first set, but fell by a 25-23 score as the Jags enjoyed an 18-14 lead midway through the frame.  EIU would counter to tie it at 22-all, however, forcing an IUPUI timeout.  Out of the break, the Indy squad would go on a 3-1 run to claw past the Panthers for the opening set win.

EIU countered by going on a 9-3 run after an early eight-all tie in the second set.  Eastern pushed the lead to 20-12, but the visitors made it interesting by going on their own multi-point run to pull within 20-19, but the Panthers used a 5-1 push to earn the 25-20 thanks to a .289-to-.171 advantage in hitting in the set as well as a four-to-two lead in the blocking game.

The third set went IUPUIs way as the Jags led 12-5 and 17-8, forcing early EIU timeouts.  The Jaguars would maintain their lead en route to the 25-12 victory, as IUPUI out-hit EIU, .480-to-.069, to set up an exciting fourth frame.

After another eight-all tie in the fourth, the Panthers rattled off consecutive points via a couple of IUPUI miscues and kills from Berens.  EIU would hold onto the two-to-three point advantage until IUPUI was able to knot the score at 23-all.  EIU would have a couple of set-points of their own, but IUPUI continued to extend the frame before earning the tough 29-27 win.

Panthers will hit the road in Ohio Valley Conference action for the final time this season, traveling to Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech this coming Friday (Nov. 2) and Saturday (Nov. 3), with first serves set for 7 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.

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