Box Score
2013 OVC Volleyball Tournament Field Set

NASHVILLE -- Eastern Illinois had their season-best nine match win streak snapped as the Panthers dropped a four-set Ohio Valley Conference match at East Division foe Belmont (25-14, 25-23, 25-27, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon.

The loss moves Eastern to 18-11 overall, yet the Panthers still earn the OVC West Division championship, but tie the Bruins (19-13) with 12-4 league marks.  Belmont earns the tiebreaker for the No. 2 Seed at next week's league tourney, as the Panthers will enter the event as the No. 3 Seed.

Senior outside hitter Reynae Hutchinson finished with 11 kills and 10 digs, to nab her 41st all-time double-double, while also etching her name into the EIU 1,000-Dig Club, after previously earning a spot on the EIU 1,000-Kill Club earlier in the season.  She becomes just the 12th all-time Panther listed on both career clubs.

Sophomore Chelsea Lee paced all Panthers with 13 put-downs off a .379 attack, while senior middle Stephanie Arnold followed with nine kills and a team-best six blocks.

Reigning OVC 'Setter of the Week', Marah Bradbury, added to her all-time double-double tally with a 37 assist and 15 dig performance to now sport 21 all-time duo-duos in her early EIU career.  Junior Dakota Springer tied Bradbury with 15 ups to pace the backrow defense.

Jessica Vestal and Allison McCoy led Belmont with 17 and 13 kills numbers, respectively, with Jamie Lundstrom leading all players on the court with 17 digs.

Meeting for just the third time, Belmont have now won each of the matchups as the contest featured 16 ties and seven lead changes in the third set, as the Bruins led sets one, two and four from start to finish.

The host Bruins led EIU in kills (61-to-48), attacks (166-to-148), attack (.247-to-.155), assists (58-to-48), aces (eight-to-two), and points (77.0-to-61.0).  The Panthers did own the advantage in digs (77-to-60) and blocks (11.0-to-8.0), however.

As the No. 3 seed, the Panthers will open the upcoming OVC tourney with a 10 a.m. (central) contest versus No. 6 Eastern Kentucky on Thursday (Nov. 21).  The Eagles of Morehead State will play host to the eight-team, three-day event down in Morehead, Ky.

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