PRE-WEEKEND MATCH NOTES (PDF)
CHARLESTON, Ill. --Â After opening the season with a 1-3 mark at last weekend's Toledo Invitational, the EIU Panthers are set to continue early-season tournament action at the upcoming two-day, four-team West Des Moines Sheraton Drake Invitational, hosted by the Bulldog squad.
Eastern will open tourney play on Friday (Sep. 6) versus South Dakota State (0-3), with first serve set for at 5 p.m.
Then on Saturday (Sep. 7), the Panthers will play two consecutive matches, first taking on the host Bulldogs (1-3) at 1 p.m., before immediately facing instate rival DePaul (3-0) at 5 p.m. to complete the tournament slate.
DRAKE INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
... all times central
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6
EIU vs. South Dakota State ... 5 p.m.
  DePaul at Drake ... 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
  DePaul vs. South Dakota State ... 11 a.m.
EIU at Drake ... 1 p.m.
EIU vs. DePaul ... 5 p.m.
  South Dakota State at Drake ... 7 p.m.
Invitational info and live stats available via the Drake athletic website (www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com).
PANTHER QUICK SETS
• EIU hit a season-high .366 (46-9-101) in the sweep of Marist, while also nailing 12 total blocks and 73.0 points in the opening loss to Loyola (Chicago).
• Following last weekend's 1-3 mark in season-opening Toledo Invite, the Panthers now sport a 49-44 all-time mark when beginning the season at a tournament (either at home or on the road). That includes nabbing a pair of championships in addition to 14 runner-up team honors.
• With the tough five-set loss to Loyola last Friday morning, Eastern is now 15-17 all-time in season openers, while coach Kate Price is an even 2-2 all-time in the first match of the year.
• This weekend's Drake invite marks the second of first of four consecutive weekend tournaments for the Panthers in non-conference action.
• Actually, the first 13 matches of the season are the lone non-OVC contests of 2013, with the league slate set to begin in late September.
• Panthers will open up the home play on Tuesday, October 1 versus instate OVC arch rival SIU Edwardsville.
EIU STARTERS & INFO BREAKDOWN
... tentative and subject to change
• OH ... Chelsea Lee ... 3.53 kps ... 3.97 pps
• RS ... Abby Saalfrank ... 2.47 kps ... 2.74 pps
• MH ... Stephanie Arnold ... .400 att. ... 1.06 bps
• S ... Marah Bradbury ... 9.06 aps ... .380 att.
• OH ... Lexi Brown ... 1.36 kps ... .158 att.
• MB ... Amy Martin ... 0.75 bps
• L ... Stephanie Wallace ... 4.88 dpgs
OUTSIDE HITTER CHELSEA LEE
• Chelsea Lee had a standout season-opening weekend to her sophomore campaign, as she led all Panthers with 60 kills (3.53 kps) at the Toledo Invitational.
• The Menomonee Falls, Wis., native nabbed her first career double-double as she fired off 21 kills and added 13 digs in the hard-fought season-opening loss to Loyola (Chicago). Both marks naturally set personal highs.
• She followed that performance with an all-time best .387 attack, off 15 kills, in EIU's sweep of Marist. She also nailed 10 and 14 put-downs in respective losses to West Virginia and Toledo.
RIGHT SIDE ABBY SAALFRANK
• Preseason All-OVC honoree Abby Saalfrank finished with 42 total kills off a .188 attack last weekend.
MIDDLE HITTER STEPHANIE ARNOLD
• Stephanie Arnold had a nice opening weekend as well, as the senior middle representated all Panthers on the Toledo Invite All-Tournament squad. That honor is the first for the Oregon, Wis., native.
• Arnold leads all Panthers with a nice .400 attack, behind 36 kills (2.12 kps) and a team-high 18 blocks (1.06 bps).
SETTER MARAH BRADBURY
• Sophomore Marah Bradbury ran the Panther offense last weekend, nabbing a pair of assist-dig duo-duos to now own nine such performances in her early EIU career. She twice dished out 38 assists, while adding 10 and 11 digs, respectively, against West Virginia and Toledo.
• Bradbury also had a nice weekend attack, hitting over .450 on three occasions. She registered a pair of .500 attacks, with zero errors, against both Marist and West Virginia.
OUTSIDE HITTER LEXI BROWN
• Newcomer Lexi Brown earned her first starts in a Panther uniform last weekend, as she hit .158 over the weekend behind 19 kills.
MIDDLE BLOCKER AMY MARTIN
• Senior Amy Martin nailed 16 total kills last weekend, while also collecting a pair of aces.
LIBERO STEPHANIE WALLACE
• Sophomore Stephanie Wallace earned the start at libero all last weekend, as she led the Panthers with 83 total digs (4.88 dps).
OFF THE BENCH
• Junior serving and defensive specialist Dakota Springer paced all Panthers with a lethal serve last weekend, as she owns the top ace mark of seven. She tied her career-high with three unreturnable serves at Toledo.
QUICK LOOK AT TOURNEY FIELD
• The four teams competing this weekend bring a combined mark of 5-9 following last week's season openers.
• DePaul comes in as the team to beat as the Blue Devils own a perfect 3-0 mark, while both the Panthers and host Bulldogs sit at 1-3 overall and South Dakota State is winless at 0-3.
SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS
• SDSU went 0-3 at last weekend's season-opening North Dakota Classic, falling in straight sets to Iowa State, Texas A&M and the host UND squad.
• The Friday afternoon matchup between EIU and SDSU will mark the first-ever meeting between the two squads on the volleyball court.
• As a team, SDSU is hitting just .024 on the season, as the squad owns just 65 kills, behind 58 errors, to average over seven kills-per-set, while the opposition hit nearly .300 against them last weekend. SDSU has also allowed 31 aces to get past their serve-receive corp, yet the Jackrabbits did roof 13 total shots and committed zero ball-handling errors.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
• The weekend tournament host Drake squad went 1-3 at the season-opening Wyoming tourney, falling to Stetson, Idaho and the host Cowboy squad, while earning a four-set victory over Montana State.
• Panthers currently enjoy an 8-6 all-time series lead over Drake, with the last meeting coming back in 2009. EIU has actually lost the last two matchups with the Bulldogs, dropping each contest in five-set thrillers.
• Team-wise, Drake is hitting .177 on the year while also trailing the opposition in aces and digs. However, the Bulldogs have out-blocked their opponents by a 36.0-to-31.0 margin.
SCOUTING THE BLUE DEMONS
• DePaul is off to a hot start to the 2013 campaign at 3-0. The Blue Demons earned consecutive sweeps over Providence, Chicago State and McNeese State at their own home tournament last weekend.
• The Panthers currently enjoy a sizeable 19-5 series advantage over DePaul, which includes winning the season-opener over the Blue Demons in 2012. In fact, Eastern has downed the instate foe nine of the last ten matchups, which includes having won five straight.
• As a team, DePaul not only leads the opposition in hitting, but also in assists, aces, digs and more than doubling the competition in blocks.
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK
• Panthers continue early-season tournament play, as EIU heads to Kansas City, Mo. to face Wake Forest, the host Kangaroos and Presbyterian at the two-day UMKC Kangaroo Klassic on Sep. 13-14.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
