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CHARLESTON, Ill. – For the second consecutive match, four Panthers tallied double-digit kills, yet this time around the Eastern Illinois volleyball squad also picked up a key Ohio Valley Conference victory over rival Austin Peay in a five-set marathon (25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 23-25, 15-17) at home in Lantz Arena.

With the victory, the Panthers move to 8-11 overall and 2-4 in league play, while the Lady Govs, who entered the weekend tied for first place in conference standings, dropped to 10-12 and 4-2 with their second straight five-set road defeat, as they previously fell at SIUE on Friday night.

Fresh off her 14 kills against Murray State last evening, freshman Maria Brown upped her game with a team-best 16 put-downs and added 21 digs to nab her first career double-double, as she hit .244 for the match and added an ace and three blocks.

Junior Chelsea Lee followed with 15 kills, while newcomer Allie Hueston delivered 13 put-downs with just one hitting error to earn a .364 attack, and led her squad at the net with six blocks.  Redshirt freshman Josie Winner chipped in ten additional kills and hit .533 in the victory.

Junior setter Marah Bradbury dished out 53 assists and came one dig shy of yet another duo-duo performance as she upped nine APSU attacks and added three blocks and an ace.

Junior libero Stephanie Wallace led all players on the court with 22 digs, while fellow defensive specialists Kelsey Brooke and Dakota Springer added 20 and 11 digs, with Springer also finishing with two unreturnable serves.

Team-wise, the Panthers held one of the OVC's top hitting squads to a low .161 attack, which included a .026 and .000 clip in sets one and five, respectively.  Overall EIU lead Peay in kills (67-to-60), attack (.209-to-.161), assists (63-to-56), aces (seven-to-three), digs (92-to-78), and points (83.0-to-.73.0).  The Lady Govs held a slight lead in total blocks (ten-to-nine), but also committed three more blocking and service errors than Eastern.

APSU was led by senior Jada Stotts' 17 kills, while sophomore Sammie Ebright and senior Liz Landon added 13 and 10 putdowns, respectively, while also registering six blocks a piece.    Stotts and Ebright also garnered double-doubles of their own with additional 16 and 10 dig numbers.

The two hour match featured 25 ties and 11 lead changes as the host squad got off to a hot start in the opening frame, holding APSU to nearly a negative attack en route to the 25-22 win, as the Lady Govs battled back after being down 17-10 and tying the score at 22-all.  But three consecutive kills by Brown would give EIU the early lead.

In the second frame, Eastern led from start to finish thanks to an early 5-0 advantage and eventual 11-4 score.  The visitors would again make a move to pull to within 18-16 of the Panthers, but two putdowns by Lee would move EIU closer to the eventual 25-17 win and 2-0 match advantage.

Set three alone had 12 ties and six lead changes as both squads battled point-for-point yet the Lady Govs avoided the sweep with a late run to win, 25-21.

The fourth frame would again be tight as EIU enjoyed a four-point advantage before APSU countered to eventually tie it up at 23-all and push the match to a fifth and deciding frame with two straight kills by Christina White.

After an early 1-1 tie, the Panthers took control of the deciding set as EIU had zero hitting errors for a .421 attack to completely take the Lady Govs out of their offense.  APSU hit zero in the final frame as EIU doubled the Govs score at 8-4, 10-5 and 12-6 before eventually winning 15-7 off a key service ace by Wallace.

With the win, Eastern now leads APSU, 20-17, in the all-time series history.  Ironically the last three matches between the two league rivals here at Lantz Arena have all gone to five sets with the Panthers having won each matchup as they now hold a four-set win streak over the Lady Govs.

The Panthers have now completed their own four-match home stand and will take to the road over the next two weeks.  First up with be weekend battles at UT Martin and Southeast Missouri next Friday and Saturday, followed by rematches versus APSU and Murray State the next week.

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