Box Score

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Down two-sets to none, Eastern Illinois volleyball delivered consecutive set wins to earn a 3-2 come-from-behind home victory over fellow Ohio Valley Conference West Division rival Austin Peay (23-25, 26-28, 25-22, 25-16, 15-11) on Friday (Oct. 18) evening at Lantz Arena.

The key Homecoming weekend victory improves the Panthers to 10-10 overall and 4-3 in league action.

A trio of Panthers paced EIU with double-digit kills as senior Reynae Hutchinson led all players on the court with a 22 kill, 11 dig double-double, which improves her career duo-duo tally to 35 all-time.

Sophomore Chelsea Lee and newcomer Lexi Brown added 14 and 10 kills, respectively, as the Panthers out-hit the visiting Lady Govs (8-15/5-2) .217-to-.172 in the match.

Sophomore setter Marah Bradbury nabbed her own double-double behind 52 assists and a team-high 15 digs.  She now has 14 duo-duo performances under her belt in her Panther career as she also finished with seven kills and four blocks.

Senior Stephanie Arnold added six put-downs via the middle attack, while her counterpart, senior Amy Martin, had a nice night, coming off the bench to secure six kills off a team-high .455 attack.  Junior Dakota Springer led Eastern behind the service line with a pair of aces.

Arnold led the net defense with seven blocks as both squads roofed 13 attacks.  Lee followed with five blocks of her own, including the lone solo stuff.

Meeting for the 35th time, the win helped the Panthers hold onto a 18-17 all-time series lead between the two league rivals.  The match featured 33 ties and 17 lead changes.

Besides leading APSU in attack, EIU also earned the team stat advantage over the visiting Lady Govs in kills (69-to-62), assists (66-to-61), digs (75-to-71), and total points (85.0-to-78.0).  Both squads also had three aces.

The Lady Govs were led by Liz Landon's 17 kill performance, while Lauren Henderson and Sammie Ebright both chipped in 13 kills.  Jada Stotts earned her own 10 kill, 17 dig duo-duo, with Henderson leading the net defense with seven stuffs.

APSU earned two consecutive close wins in sets one and two as the visitors used late-match runs to win 25-23 and 28-26, respectively.  In the second set, EIU actually had multiple set-point opportunities, but could not earn the two-point win as APSU out-hit EIU in both frames.

Set three went EIU's way thanks to 25-22 win, but not before the Lady Govs put some pressure on the Panthers, but a late 5-2 EIU run would help Eastern extend the match.

Set four was all Panthers as EIU enjoyed an early 8-3 lead, but consecutive points by APSU would force a Panther timeout up just 14-10.  But the home squad would enjoy a 11-6 scoring run to take the set, 25-16, and even the match at 2-all.

The fifth set started tight as both squads used multi-point runs to eventually tie at 7-all.  A Bradbury kill and consecutive APSU miscues would eventually give EIU a three-point cushion at 12-9, forcing a Lady Gov timeout.  With the Homecoming crowd on their feet, the Panthers would eventually earn their first five-set win of the season (1-4 on the year) thanks to a slam by Martin via the slide attack.

Panthers will continue home action tomorrow evening, hosting Murray State at 6 p.m.  The Racers dropped a four-set affair at SIU Edwardsville on Friday evening and will come to town sporting a 12-9 overall mark and 2-5 league record.

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