Box Score

CHICAGO -- Eastern Illinois volleyball fell to 1-1 on the early season after dropping a three-set match to Butler (25-19, 32-30, 25-17) to begin final day action at the DePaul Invitational on Saturday.

Senior Alison Berens led the EIU attack with nine kills while classmate Emily Franklin and sophomore Kelsey Roggemann chipped in eight put-a-ways.

Defensively, junior Reynae Hutchinson led with 15 digs, followed by freshman libero Stephanie Wallace with 11. At the net, junior Stephanie Arnold tied Roggemann with three blocks.

The freshmen setting duo of Marah Bradbury and Abby Saalfrank dished out 17 and 16 assists, respectively, while Berens was a force behind the service line with a game-high three aces.

DePaul was led by Belle Obert's 12 kill, 11 dig double-double, while Rachel Barber added 10 kills of her own as the Bulldogs out-hit EIU .235 to .108 in the match.  In fact, Butler (1-1) led EIU in nearly all stat categories.

Meeting for the 18th time, the Bulldogs jumped ahead 8-3 to start the first set behind timely blocks and some EIU miscues, forcing the Panthers to burn an early timeout.  A cross-court kill by Saalfrank and a Butler hitting error would snap the Butler run.  Unfortunately, the Bulldogs continued a five-or-six point cushion as Eastern utilized their final TO down 20-14.  A soft shot over the block by Berens would pull EIU to within 21-17, but the Bulldogs held on for the 25-19 first set win, out-hitting EIU, .355 to .214 in the frame.

Like the first set, Butler would steam ahead, 7-3, before EIU countered with consecutive blocks to tie it at nine-all as sophomore Kelsey Roggemann came in to provide a nice spark to the EIU net defense and offense.  Eastern would earn the key 20th point first before extending the lead at 21-19 off a block.  Following a Butler timeout, EIU held onto a two-point cushion, but the Bulldogs countered to knot the score at 23-all, forcing a Panther TO.  A left-side put-down by Saalfrank gave Eastern their first set-point, but Butler would tie it again at 26-all.  Multiple sideouts would eventually knot the score at 30-all before Butler gutted out the tough 32-30 win following an EIU blocking miscue.  Roggemann came off the bench to lead EIU with four kills as neither team hit particularly well with Butler leading, .184 to .146 as each squad had three aces and four blocks.  The set featured 20 ties and 10 lead changes.

Both squads played solid ball in the first half of the third frame before EIU jumped ahead 12-10 off a hard-hit kill down the line by junior Reynae Hutchinson.  However, Butler would fire off seven straight to force a break in the action down 15-12.  A dump set-kill by Bradford would end the Bulldog run, yet EIU still trailed 18-14.  Following Eastern's final timeout, the Butler block would stymie the Panthers before senior Emily Franklin drilled consecutive shots to pull EIU to within 21-16.  Unfortunately Butler would hold on for the 25-17 win and match sweep of Eastern.

With the win, the Bulldogs now own a 12-6 all-time lead in the series history.

Panthers will finish up invite play later today with a 4:30 p.m. match against long-time rival Indiana State.

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