PRE-MATCH NOTES (PDF)
CHARLESTON, Ill. --Â Eastern Illinois volleyball is set for the final regular-season match of the 2013 campaign, as the Panthers travel to OVC East Division rival Belmont for a 2 p.m. matchup this Saturday (Nov. 16) afternoon.
The match will ultimately determine the No. 2 seed at the upcoming league tournament next week, as EIU currently sits all alone in second place in the overall standings, yet if the Bruins earn the victory over Eastern, Belmont will nab the No. 2 seed off the lone-meeting tiebreaker.
The Panthers are riding a season-long nine-match win streak to sit at 18-10 overall and 12-3 in league play, while the Bruins are 18-13 on the year and 11-4 in OVC action.
PANTHER QUICK SETS
• EIU finishes the home campaign undefeated at 8-0, marking the lone OVC squad to own a perfect home mark. The Panthers join 19 other NCAA DI squads with perfect home records. Prior to this fall, Eastern last finished undefeated at home in 2004 when the Panthers also earned OVC regular-season co-champion honors.
• For the overall season, EIU continues to pace the OVC in team attack (.230), assists (13.09) and kills (13.99), while ranking second in blocks (2.08). Meanwhile, in OVC-only action, the Panthers also sit first in both assists (14.02) and kills (14.61).
• In individual OVC Top 5 ranks, sophomore Marah Bradbury maintains the top assist tallies of 11.14 and 11.97 for both the season and OVC action, respectively. Senior Stephanie Arnold sports the second-best conference attack of .353 and block (1.05 bps) for the entire season.
• Four different Panthers have nabbed weekly OVC honors this season, led by sophomore Marah Bradbury's six 'Setter of the Week' honors this season alone, having just won her most recent award on Monday to now sport eight in her career. That mark sets a new school-record for weekly league kudos earned by a single Panther. Senior Stephanie Arnold also nabbed her third career 'Offensive Player of the Week' honor this year, while classmate Reynae Hutchinson nabbed her first 'Offensive Player of the Week' honor last month and sophomore Chelsea Lee also earned her first offensive honor when EIU opened the fall campaign in September.
• EIU notched a season-high service mark in their recent sweep of TTU as the Panthers fired off 12 aces in the victory to end the home campaign.
• EIU is a perfect 6-0 on the season when hitting .300-or-higher in a match and 16-3 all-time when the Panthers hold their opposition under a .200 attack.
• Winning the third set has been key for the Panthers this season as Eastern enjoys a nearly perfect 13-1 record when earning a win in that important frame.
• Despite being tabbed to finish third in the OVC West Division and fifth overall, EIU earned the regular-season champ in their own division and can finish up the 2013 campaign as the overall No. 2 seed with a road win over Belmont on Saturday.
EIU STARTERS & INFO BREAKDOWN
... tentative and subject to change
OH - REYNAE HUTCHINSON
• A two-time Preseason All-OVC honoree, senior Reynae Hutchinson earned her first career league 'Player of the Week' honor this season.
• She owns the second-best kill tally on the EIU squad with 325 total, but leads via a 3.32 kills-per-set mark.
• She is just eight additional digs to add her name to the 1,000-Dig list. That honor would make her just the 12th Panther to finish their EIU careers on both the 1,000-Kill and Digs lists, as she already placed her name on the 1,000-Kill tally earlier this season and currently has 1,226 put-downs in her career.
• She now sports 40 kill-dig double-doubles as a Panther, which includes recently nailing 14 kills and 16 digs in EIU's five-set win at SIUE this week.
• Career-wise, Hutchinson will finish in the all-time Top 10 in kills-per-set, attacks, and a member of the 1,000-Point Club, while additionally ranked in sets & matches played and points-per-set during the current OVC-era (1996-present).
MH - STEPHANIE ARNOLD
• Continuing a fine senior campaign, Stephanie Arnold paces the Panther attack off a high of .353, behind 277 kills (2.56 kps) and a team-best 113 blocks (1.05 bps).
• Last week, Arnold earned her second consecutive CoSIDA Academic All-District V honors, with her name now set to be placed on the national ballot for an opportunity to earn Academic All-America honors.
• She set a career-best attack mark in EIU's sweep at Murray State this season, as she nailed 17 kills off 21 attacks with zero errors to notch a .810 clip, which ranks as the third top EIU mark, yet ranks as the best hitting performance by a full-time EIU attacker, while also ranking in the OVC Top 10 single-match tally as well.
• She's ranked in the EIU record books for both hitting % and blocks. In all-time DI records, she owns the fourth best career attack (.272) and also fourth in block assists (307), as well as sitting seventh in total blocks (364).
• In OVC-only seasons, she improves to third in overall attack and solo blocks and blocks-per-set. As well as ranking second all-time for assisted roofs and total stuffs.
MB - AMY MARTIN
• Senior Amy Martin has continued to make an impact since rejoining the starting lineup at the middle attack. She came off the bench in EIU's crucial five-set comeback win over APSU, where she drilled the match winner via her patiented slide attack. She's now hitting .272 on the season.
• She's added her name to the OVC Top 10 ranks for both hitting % and blocks, ranking ninth in both for the year and 5th (.335) and 4th (1.06) in league-only action, respectively.
S - MARAH BRADBURY
• Having just won her sixth OVC 'Setter of the Week' honor of the season, and eighth all-time, sophomore Marah Bradbury continues to pace the league in assists for both the season and in OVC-only matches.
• She set a new career-high mark this fall with 65 assists in EIU's tough five-set road loss at SEMO to open league play in October.
• Off her leadership, EIU continues to hold the top hitting % mark, as well as leading the league in team assists and total kills.
• She owns 20 all-time assist-dig double-double performances to her credit, including 13 such marks this season alone.
• Career-wise, Bradbury has already added her name to the EIU record book for all-time assists, as her 2233 tally ranks No. 8 all-time and No. 5 during the current OVC-era (1996-present).
OH/MB - CHELSEA LEE
• As she has for most of the season, Lee continues to pace all Panthers offensively with 332 kills (3.22 kps), behind a .267 attack. She also has 58 total blocks and owns a team-high 367.5 point tally.
• Individually, Lee currently ranks in the OVC Top 10 for kills and points.
• This past September, Lee connected on 44 kills and registered a .379 attack to earn her first career OVC 'Offensive Player of the Week' honor as she helped EIU nab team runner-up honors at the Drake Invitational.
RS - ABBY SAALFRANK
• Sophomore Abby Saalfrank, who earned preseason All-OVC honors following her OVC 'Freshman of the Year' kudos last fall, is back in the starting lineup via the right-side attack.
• She has 207 kills this season and 42 total blocks, drilling a season-best 16 kills at home vs. SIUE earlier this year as she came just one put-down shy of tying her all-time best performance.
L - STEPHANIE WALLACE
• Sophomore libero Stephanie Wallace owns the top EIU dig mark with 391 total (3.87 dps), which has ranked in the OVC Top 10 for the entire season.
• In her short career, Wallace has already secured 15+ digs in 23 matches, including 13 such performances this year.
OFF THE BENCH SPECIALISTS
• Juniors Kelsey Brooke and Dakota Springer continue post nice dig and ace numbers with each coming off the bench as serving and defensive specialists.
• Springer has a team-best 24 aces (0.22 aps) on the year, while also upping 246 attacks.
• Brooke, meanwhile, has drilled 23 unreturnable serves of her own and sports 240 digs.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
• After starting the OVC with a 1-3 record, the previously tabbed preseason league team to beat has won ten of their last 11 matchups, with the Bruins having their nine-match win streak snapped at Morehead State last weekend.
• Saturday's matchup between EIU and BEL will mark just the third all-time meeting, with the Bruins holding a 2-0 lead after picking up both wins over the Panthers last fall.
• Junior Scarlet Gable leads BEL with 309 total kills, followed by senior Allison McCoy and freshman Jessica Vestal with 287 and 263 put-downs, respectively.
• McCoy's .377 attack leads both her squad and the OVC, while she also sports 100 total blocks this season.
• Senior Hannah Miranda has 1,217 total assists this year as she also has 123 kills off a .281 attack when necessary.
• Defensively, senior libero Jamie Lundstrom has upped 508 total attacks to lead the back court, with Myer also owning a nice 379 dig mark.
LOOKING AHEAD TO OVC TOURNEY
• EIU will make their second consecutive appearance in the end-of-season league tourney next week. Last year EIU finished as the No. 6 seed.
• Saturday's match at Belmont will ultimately decide the outright No. 2 seed at this season's tourney. If EIU earns the win and the runner-up seed, it will mark the highest seed that the Panthers have earned since 2004 when Eastern tied for the regular-season title with EKU, but was tabbed as the second seed due to dropping the lone meeting with the Colonels that season.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
