Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. -- Eastern Illinois volleyball continued Penn State Classic action on Saturday afternoon, falling to Portland in a five-set thriller (21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 26-28, 15-11) to drop the Panthers to 3-8 on the season.

Sophomore middle Kelsey Roggemann had a career day behind a new personal high 16 kills and a .375 attack.

Freshman Abby Saalfrank had her own fine match as she nailed her second career triple-double off 10 kills, 21 assists and 10 digs.

Senior Emily Franklin and junior Reynae Hutchinson chipped in 12 and 11 kills, respectively, while Hutchinson nabbed her 20th career duo-duo performance with the addition of 13 digs.

Sophomore Kelsey Brooke, who played as the starting libero the entire match, earned a career-high 16 digs behind her nice defensive play as she led all players on the floor in that stat category.

In other defensive numbers, Saalfrank joined junior Stephanie Arnold and senior Alison Berens with three blocks apiece.

Portland was led by Autumn Wedan's 21 kill and 12 dig match, while Ariel Usher and Bea Loper added 16 and 11 kills, respectively.

Panthers trailed the Pilots (6-7) in kills (65-to-63), attack (.305-to-.229), blocks (eight-to-six), and points (77.0-to-75.0), but Eastern won the stat line for aces (six-to-four) and digs (63-to-60).

The match featured an amazing 27 ties and 13 lead changes, with the most coming in the tight fourth set 28-26 win by the Panthers to extend the match.  The two squads met for only the second time, with the Pilot win the first in the series.

Panthers return finish up PSU Classic play this evening as EIU will face the host, and #4-ranked, Penn State squad at 7 p.m.

Both EIU skipper Kate Price and assistant coach Ryan Sweitzer will make their first appearance on the sidelines against their respecitve alma mater.  Price earned an NCAA Championship at PSU back in 2007, while Sweitzer was a member of the Nittany Lion men's squad that won that also won the national title in 2008.

The #4-PSU team marks the highest ranked opponent that the Panthers have played since the 2001 EIU squad also battled the fourth-seeded Arizona Wildcats in the first round of the NCAA Regional.

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