Post-Season Match Notes (PDF)
Tournament Central | Live Stats | Live Video

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois volleyball will continue the 2012 campaign at the upcoming eight-team, season-ending Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, as the #6-Panthers enter the weekend at 11-20 overall, following an 8-8 mark in league play.

Hosted by regular-season champion Morehead State, action gets underway on Thursday (Nov. 15), with EIU taking on #3-Belmont at 10 a.m. (CST), with semifinal and championship action following on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The Panthers dropped a tough five-set home finale to the Bruins of Belmont just last Friday evening, so the two OVC rivals will have an immediate rematch at the league tourney with Belmont owning an even 15-15 overall record after going 11-5 in their first season as members of the OVC this fall.

OVC TOURNEY MATCH SCHEDULE
... all times central

THU., NOVEMBER 15 (First Round)
#1 - #3-BEL vs. #6-EIU ... 10 a.m.
#2 - #2-SEMO vs. #7-JSU ... 12:30 p.m.
#3 - #4-APSU vs. #5-TSU ... 3:30 p.m.
#4 - #1-MOR vs. #8-UTM ... 6 p.m.

FRI., NOVEMBER 16 (Semifinal)
#5 - EIU/BEL vs. JSU/SEMO ... 3:30 p.m.
#6 - TSU/APSU vs. UTM/MOR ... 6 p.m.

SAT., NOVEMBER 17 (Championship)
#7 - Opponents TBD ... 5 p.m.
... winner earns automatic berth to NCAA Regional

All tournament action (live stats/live webcasts) on www.OVCsports.com.

PANTHERS NAB ALL-OVC HONORS
• Three EIU players have picked up four post-season honors, as announced by the league office on Wednesday (Nov. 14).

• Junior Reynae Hutchinson earned All-OVC kudos, while Abby Saalfrank nabbed the OVC 'Freshman of the Year' award and joined classmate Marah Bradbury on the All-Newcomer squad.

• The four awards is the most by a Panther volleyball squad since 2004, when four EIU players earned five All-OVC honors as the Eastern squad earned the co-OVC regular-season title.

QUICK SET ON THE PANTHERS
• Junior Reynae Hutchinson currently leads the squad in total kills with 321 put-downs (2.70 kps) and also in total attacks behind 992, while owning the second most points (369.0).  She sports 25 career kill-dig double-doubles, which includes nine such performances during her current junior campaign.  Besides her recent All-OVC honor, the nearby Mattoon native also earned a spot on the Marquette Classic All-Tourney squad earlier this season, while she also being selected to the OVC All-Newcomer team as a freshman back in 2010, prior to picking up Preseason All-OVC kudos last fall.

• Freshman Abby Saalfrank, a right side hitter and part-time setter has posted a league-leading five triple-doubles this season, with three of them coming via OVC play. Her recent OVC 'Freshman of the Year' honor is the first by a Panther since former standout Maren Crabtree (2004-07) earned the same award back in 2004.  Saalfrank ranks second on the team for kills with 305 (2.54 kps) and also has 267 assists. Earlier this season, Saalfrank, who is hitting .245 on the season, represented the Panther squad as a member of the Oakland Invitational All-Tournament team.  Her five triple duos is the most by a Panther during the OVC-era, while Jeanne Pacione (1984-87) registered six such performances back in 1986.  She is also the second Panther to win the OVC freshman award, joining former standout Maren Crabtree (2004-07), who won the honor back in 2004.

• As the full-time starting setter, Marah Bradbury currently sports 987 total assists (8.29 aps) on the season, which includes a career-high 59 versus Belmont in the regular-season finale.  The Decatur, Ind. native has recorded six assist-dig double-doubles in her first season in a Panther uniform, while twice being tabbed the OVC 'Setter of the Week' on Oct. 22 and again on Nov. 11.  She also owns the squad's second best serve with 30 aces and is hitting .220 on the year when her net attack is necessary.

• Alison Berens has chipped in 279 kills (2.33  kps) via the middle attack as the senior continues to lead EIU in points with 379.5, and also sports a team-best 107 total blocks (22 solo, 85 assisted).Berens also has the top Panther serve with 36 aces, while her 25 unreturnable serves in league-only action ranks as one of the best in the entire OVC.

• Defensively, sophomore Kelsey Brooke and freshman Stephanie Wallace are one-and-two in digs with 380 (3.17 dps) and 358 (3.17 dps) ups, respectively.  The duo have split starting libero duties throughout most of the season, with Wallace most recently taking over that important defensive spot in the back court.

• Junior Stephanie Arnold leads EIU in hitting with a nice .301 attack clip behind 172 (1.59 kps) kills, while also ranking second in net defense off 100 total roofs, including 12 solo stuffs and 88 assisted blocks.  Arnold has garnered a couple of outstanding academic honors as of late, being one of six OVC players to earn Schola-Athlete of the Year kudos, prior to also being named Academic All-District V by CoSIDA, which automatically means she's in the running to possibly becoming an Academic All-American.

SCOUTING OVC TOURNEY SQUADS 
• This season the end-of-season tourney participant number has increased from the usual six squads to eight, with the seeding determined by league-only wins-loses.

• Quick look at the eight squads' OVC records versus the rest of  this season's tourney competition:

OVC TOURNEY FIELD RANKINGS
Top 8 OVC Tournament squads' record versus each other this league season
#1-MOR ... 10-0 (vs. Top 8)  ... 6-0 vs. East Div. ... 4-0 vs. West Div.
#2-SEMO ... 7-3 ...  4-2 vs. West Div. ... 3-1 vs. East Div.
#3-BEL ... 5-5 ... 3-3 vs. East Div. ... 2-2 vs.West Div.
#4-APSU ... 5-5 ... 4-2 vs. West Div. ... 1-3 vs. East Div.
#5-TSU ... 4-6 ... 2-4 vs. East Div. ... 2-2 vs. West Div.
#6-EIU ... 3-7 ... 2-4 vs. West Div. ... 1-3 vs. East Div.
#7-JSU ... 3-7 ... 1-5 vs. East Div. ... 2-2 vs. West Div.
#8-UTM ... 3-7 ... 2-4 vs. West Div. ... 1-3 vs. East Div.

PANTHER HISTORY IN OVC TOURNEY 
• It's been seven long seasons since the Panthers have had the opportunity to compete at the end-of-season tournament, with the last time an EIU squad made the field coming back in 2005 when EIU actually hosted the three-day event as the No. 4 Seed.

• EIU earned the right to host the event in 2005 as the Panthers won a coin flip versus co-first place (at the time) Tennessee State.  With the championship match to be televised on ESPNU that year, the tourney host needed to be determined before the end of the regular-season, which allowed EIU the chance of entertaining the six squads competing.  Unfortunately, Eastern dropped their first round contest to SEMO that year, via a five-set heartbreaker.

• Eastern owns a 10-7 all-time record at the OVC tourney, including winning the title back in 2001, as the Panthers went on to face #4-Arizona in the First Round of the NCAA Regional in Champaign, Ill., falling in three games (as they were referred to back then.

• The Panthers have also earned a trio of tourney runner-ups -- 2004, 1997 and 1996 -- as well as three semifinalist honors from 1998-2000.

• The #6-Seed this weekend marks the lowest tourney rank that the Panthers have earned in the season-ending event.  EIU was the top seed and host of the 1998 tourney as the regular-season champion, and have also earned the #2-Seed four times.

RE-SCOUTING BELMONT
• After dropping the regular-season home finale to the Bruins last Friday in a tough five-set affair, the Panthers will have an immediate rematch with the OVC newcomers, as Belmont enters the league tourney as the #3-Seed.  As the #6-Seed, the Panthers will open up the OVC event versus Belmont at 10 a.m. on Thursday (Nov. 15).

• Allison McCoy leads the conference with a .320 hitting percentage, while junior setter Hannah Miranda is second in the league in assists, averaging 10.34 per set. Miranda, who earned All-OVC honors, registered 1,044 assists on the season and 99 kills.

• Jen Myer, who also was named to the All-OVC Team led the Bruins with 270 kills during the regular-season, while she added 49 blocks, 292 digs and 25 service aces.

• Freshman Jocelyn Youngdahl registered 217 kills and 212 digs during her freshman campaign, earning her All-Newcomer honors from the league office.

RECAPPING LAST EIU/BEL MATCH
•  Five different Panthers earned double-digit kills, but it wasn't enough as EIU lost a tough five-set thriller (25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-11) to OVC newcomer Belmont last Friday (Nov. 9) night, to finish the regular-season schedule.

• Seniors Alison Berens and Emily Franklin made the most of their their final play in Lantz Arena, as the duo led EIU with 17 and 15 kills via the middle and outside attack, respectively.  The 17 put-downs for Berens sets a new career high, while she led all players on the court with a .467 attack clip.  Franklin also hit a nice .333 for the contest.

• Freshman Abby Saalfrank added 12 kills off a .348 attack,, while juniors Stephanie Arnold and Reynae Hutchinson chipped in 11 put-downs of their own.

• Newcomer Marah Bradbury obviously shared the ball with a variety of hitters as she dished out a new career-high 58 assists, as the Panthers actually out-hit the Bruins, .257 to .234.

• Defensively, a trio of back court players upped double-digit attacks, led by freshman libero Stephanie Wallace's 23 digs, while sophomore Dakota Springer set a new personal high with 16 and classmate Kelsey Brooke added 10 additional digs.  EIU also out-dug Belmont, 76-to-57 for the match.

• In net defense, Hutchinson and Arnold both finished with five blocks, as the Panthers were just barely out-blocked by the Bruins, ten-to-nine.

• Jen Myer led a foursome of Belmont players with 17 kills.  Jocelyn Youngdahl nabbed a 13-kill, 11-dig double-double, while Allison McCoy and Alex Martin finished with 12 and 11 put-a-ways, respectively.  Youngdahl, Myer and Martin all hit over .300 for the contest, with McCoy and Myer earning five blocks.  Libero Jamie Lundstrom not only led the service game with three aces, but also paced the Bruin back row with 17 digs, while Scarlet Gable added 12 additional digs.

• Meeting for the first time ever on the volleyball court, the match featured 16 ties and seven lead changes, as the match was a preview of the first round match in the OVC Tournament, as Belmont secured the third seed and the Panthers will enter as the sixth ranked squad.

ACADEMIC HONORS ROLL IN FOR ARNOLD 
•  Fresh off her recent OVC Scholar-Athlete kudos, EIU volleyball player Stephanie Arnold recently earned Capital One Academic All-District V honors, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) last Thursday (Nov. 8).

• The redshirt-junior won a spot on the First Team after also having been named one of six Ohio Valley Conference Scholar-Athletes of 2011-12, which was announced earlier this week.

• On the court, the Oregon, Wis. native currently ranks third in the OVC for hitting percentage and fourth in total blocks, after she had placed second in total stuffs back in in 2009.

• Off a career-high 11 blocks, the two-time OVC 'Defensive Player of the Week' honoree helped the Panthers set a new four-set record for stuffs with 18 total in a road win at Murray State this past October, which helped to add her name to the EIU single-match Top 10 record book.

• In addition, the middle hitter has already etched her name into the Panther record books for solo, assisted and total blocks.

• In the classroom, Steph sports a perfect 4.0 grade point average in biological sciences, with minors in both Spanish and chemistry. A three-year selection to the EIU Dean's List, Arnold is also a multi-recipient of the OVC Medal of Honor and selection to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll. She also earned departmental honors in biological sciences.

• Arnold has been active in her Resident Hall Association (RHA), including coordination of campus activities and attendance at leadership conferences.  She's a member of the Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-medical honor society and has served as a biological sciences tutor. While away from campus, she has been a patient liaison in the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System and served as a Charleston Christmas Parade volunteer. Arnold is a native of Oregon, Wis.

• With her first team selection, Arnold's name will also be put on the ballot for Academic All-America consideration.

• This honor is the first by a Panther volleyball player since former standout Erica Gerth (2001-04) twice earned All-District and All-America selection, including Third Team and First Team awards in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

OVC 'SETTER OF THE WEEK' TWICE
•  Freshman Marah Bradbury nabbed her second career adidas® OVC 'Setter of the Week' honor back on Nov. 11, after previously capturing the award two weeks prior.

• For that week of play, the Decatur, Ind., native dished out 50+ assists in all three EIU matches, including a then career high of 58 against IUPUI at home.  In that same Jaguar match, Bradbury also earned an assist-dig double-double with the addition of a new career-high 12 digs.

• She helped Eastern hit .260 as a team over the course of three matches last week, which included a pair of road OVC wins at Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech.  EIU hit .277 in the win over the Gamecocks to mark the first time that the Panthers have won consecutive road matches over JSU.

PANTHERS IN OVC TOP FIVE
• Team-wise, EIU currently ranks third in the OVC for overall matches in assists (12.16 aps), while also tabbed fourth in hitting % (.198), kills (12.83 kps) and blocks (1.98 bps), and fifth for aces (1.19 aps).

• For league-only contests, the Panthers are ranked fourth for assists (12.86 aps), kills (13.50 kps), blocks (2.18 bps), while fifth for hitting % (.215) and aces (1.19 aps).

• Individually, senior Alison Berens ties for first in the conference for aces in OVC-only action thanks to a 0.39 assists-per-set mark.

• Junior Stephanie Arnold also owns a pair of Top 5 marks in the OVC, including a Top 3 rank for hitting % for both the overall season (.301) and in league-only action (.312), while also ranked third in OVC-only blocks (1.11 bps).

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