Box Score CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois volleyball battled back from a two-set deficit to push Ohio Valley Conference rival Southeast Missouri to the limit on Friday (Oct. 31) night, but the Panther comeback fell short as EIU dropped the five-set thriller (25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 20-25, 15-12).
The tough loss moves the Panthers to 10-14 overall and 4-7 in league play as EIU still holds onto eighth place in the conference standings. Â The Redhawks, meanwhile, earned the regular-season sweep of the Panthers with the victory to improve to 10-15 and 6-5 in the OVC and tie for fifth place.
Junior
Abby Saalfrank paced a trio of Panthers with double-digit kills as the right-side attacker drilled 20 put-downs off a .224 attack, while adding three blocks and posting a 21.5 point tally.
Fellow junior
Chelsea Lee and newcomer
Allie Hueston both chipped in 15 kills of their own, while Hueston added four roofs and Lee registered three blocks as well.
Junior setter
Marah Bradbury secured her 30th career double-double with a 55 assist, 19 dig performance.
In other defensive numbers, redshirt freshman
Josie Winner led all Panthers at the net with six stuffs, while junior libero
Stephanie Wallace upped 23 SEMO attacks. Â Senior defensive and serving specialist
Dakota Springer tied freshman
Maria Brown with 18 digs, while senior
Kelsey Brooke chipped in 14 ups of her own.
Seniors Kelsey Keeve and Andrea Baylin led SEMO with respective 14 and 13 kill numbers, as both also secured double-digit digs as well at 19 and 18. Â The Panthers did hold the OVC's top attacker, junior Taylor Masterson to a zero hitting mark, while newcomer Nzingha Clarke's seven blocks paced all players on the court. Â Libero Jade Mortimer finished with 22 digs to lead her squad's backrow defensive.
Team-wise, the Panthers actually led their arch-rivals in nearly every statistical category, including holding the advantage in kills, attack, assists, digs, and points. Â SEMO just barely out-hit andout-blocked the Panthers, while also sporting one more ace.
Meeting for the 46th time, the contest featured 33 ties and 16 lead changes, as EIU found themselves down 0-2 early as SEMO rallied from an early Panther lead in the opening set to eventually win 25-20 thanks to an eight-to-one block advantage.
After both squads played evenly in the second frame through 18 points, the visitors would go on a 7-0 run to take the set, 25-18, as EIU hit zero in the frame.
Sets three and four went to EIU off respective 25-18 and 25-20 wins as the Panthers limited the Redhawks to negative attacks in both frames, while Eastern hit a match-best .303 in the third set.
The deciding set saw SEMO take the early 4-1 lead before the Panthers would slowly tie it up at 8-all thanks to a Redhawk miscue. Â From that point on, both squads played classic side-out ball with SEMO holding the one point advantage as Eastern could never get past an even score. Â At 11-all, SEMO would connect on three straight kills to pull ahead and eventually earn the 15-12 victory.
With the victory, SEMO now owns a 30-16 all-time series advantage over the Panthers.
Panthers will look to snap their current two-match losing streak as their weekend home stand continues with a 2 p.m. match versus UT Martin at Lantz Arena. Â The Skyhawks dropped a five-set road contest of their own this evening at SIUE and will come to town at 10-15 overall and 3-8 in league play to tie for ninth place in the OVC standings.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
