Box Score CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Illinois volleyball hit past Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay in a four-set road affair (25-20, 25-16, 27-29, 25-20) on Friday (Oct. 24) evening, as the Panthers earned the regular-season sweep of the Lady Govs.
The win improves EIU to 10-12 overall and 4-5 in league play, while the Lady Govs lost for the first time on their home court this season and fall to 11-14/5-3.
Juniors
Chelsea Lee and
Abby Saalfrank paced all players with respective 15 and 11 kills and impressive .273 and .259 attacks.
As a team, the Panthers dominated the attack game over the previously hot-hitting Lady Govs with a .230-to-.106 advantage, which included holding APSU to a negative .029 in the second frame.
Junior setter
Marah Bradbury secured her 29th career double-double performance with 40 assists and 10 digs, while coming three put-downs shy of her first career triple-double as she tallied seven kills with zero miscues for a .538 attack.
Freshman
Allie Hueston tied Wallace and senior defensive/serving specialist
Dakota Springer with a pair of unreturnable serves in the victory.
Classmate
Stephanie Wallace upped 16 Lady Gov attacks to pace the EIU back court defense, while senior
Kelsey Roggemann's six stuffs led the Panthers at the net.
APSU's Sammie Ebright was lone player with double-digit kills as she nailed 12 behind a .267 attack. Junior setter Aubrey Marsellis also posted a 40-assist, 17-dig duo-duo for the Lady Govs, while April Adams led her squad with three aces.
Besides besting the host squad in overall attack, the Panthers also held the advantage in assists (48-to-47), aces (seven-to-five), digs (61-to-56), blocks (11-to-8), and points (69.0-to-65.0).Â
EIU out-hit APSU, .200-to-.104, as the Panthers used a late 5-0 run to pull ahead 21-15, riding the lead for the 25-20 win.
The second frame was all Panthers as EIU led from start to finish for the relatively easy 25-16 win and 2-0 set lead as Eastern fired a .241 attack, compared to the negative .029 mark for the Lady Govs.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair with 14 ties. Even at 19-all, the host team went on a 4-0 run of their own, but the Panthers clawed back to knot the set at 23-23. APSU would earn five set-points before finally earning the hard-fought 29-27 win to extend the match.
The final frame started even, but the Panthers began to slowly pull away, eventually leading by as many as five points at the 14-9 mark. EIU would ride the advantage for the eventual 25-20 win and four-set road victory.Â
Meeting for the 38th time, the contest featured 27 ties and eight lead changes as the Panthers extend their all-time series lead over the Lady Govs to 21-17 and have now won five straight.
Panthers continue their league road swing with an early 11 a.m. matchup at OVC leader Murray State tomorrow afternoon.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
