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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois volleyball earned the regular-season sweep of Ohio Valley Conference rival UT Martin as the Panthers hit past the visiting Skyhawks in three straight sets (25-18, 25-21, 25-21) on Saturday (Nov. 1) afternoon at Lantz Arena.

The victory ups the Panther mark to 11-14 overall and 5-7 in league play, the while Skyhawks drop to 10-16 and 3-9, respectively.  EIU has now won four straight over UTM and up their all-time series lead over the Skyhawks to 25-15.

EIU middle Allie Hueston paced all players on the court as the freshman drilled a personal high 15 kills while hitting .500 in the match.  She also roofed three UTM attacks to lead the Eastern net defense, while tallying 16.5 total points in the win.

Junior Abby Saalfrank added nine kills of her, while classmate Chelsea Lee and redshirt-freshman Josie Winner each registered eight put-downs of their own.  Winner also hit .500 for the contest.

Junior setter Marah Bradbury dished out 41 assists to help Eastern out-hit the visitors, .264-to-.160.  Senior Dakota Springer tied her career-high ace total as she fired off three unreturnable serves.

In additional defensive stats, junior libero Stephanie Wallace's 19 digs led all players.  Senior defensive specialist Kelsey Brooke, meanwhile, also upped 12 Skyhawk attacks, after being named the newest recipient of the EIU Volleyball Alumni Scholarship prior to the start of the match.

UTM was led by senior Emily Keaton's 14 kills and .414 attack clip, while also adding two solo blocks and the lone Skyhawk ace.  Junior libero Chelsea Bowles finished with 13 digs to lead her team's back row defense, while senior Allie Whimpey held the net defense off four blocks.

Eastern held the stat advantage over UTM in nearly every stat category, including kills, attacks, attack %, assists, aces, digs, and points.  UTM did finish with four more blocks than the Panthers.

The match featured just 11 ties and five lead changes, with most coming via the second set as the Panthers led from start-to-finish to open the contest as they cruised to a 25-18 first set win while out-hitting UTM, .368-to-.265.

The second set was a back-and-forth affair until the Panthers used a late run to take the 2-0 advantage thanks to the 25-21 win. EIU again out-hit the Skyhawks, .250-to.242 in that frame.

Only one tie came about in the final stanza as EIU limited the OVC rivals to a zero hitting mark en route to the 25-21 win and sweep.

Panthers will finish up the home portion of their season next weekend as EIU will entertain Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State on Friday and Saturday, with first serves set for 6 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.

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