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MURRAY, Ky. – Eastern Illinois volleyball ended their 2014 campaign on Friday (Nov. 21), as the #6-Panthers fell to #2-Belmont in a four-set affair (17-25, 25-19, 27-25, 25-17) in semifinal action at the end-of-season Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.  EIU ends the season at 15-16 overall.

Panthers return eight letter winners for the 2015 season, including a trio of All-OVC honorees -- Marah Bradbury, Allie Hueston and Abby Saalfrank.

Hueston, who represented the Panthers on the OVC All-Newcomer Team, led all Panthers with a 15 kill performance as the freshman hit .378 and added five blocks.  Junior Chelsea Lee added 10 kills and a team-best six stuffs of her own.

Junior All-OVC award winners Abby Saalfrank and Marah Bradbury added respective eight kills and 40 assists, prior to Saalfrank being sidelined with an injury late in the key third frame.  Her fine tourney play helped the right side attacker earn her first career OVC All-Tournament honor.

Stephanie Wallace led the EIU back court with 24 digs, while seniors Kelsey Brooke and Dakota Springer ended their respective Panther careers by upping 14 and nine Bruin attacks.

Three Bruins (19-13) registered double-digit kills, led by senior Scarlet Gable's 18 put-downs

After  a tight start to the match in the opening set, the Panthers slowly pulled ahead of the upper seed, breaking out of a 7-4 advantage to eventually lead 19-13.  A classic dump kill by Bradbury, followed by a right side put-down from Saalfrank would eventually give EIU the relatively easy 25-17 first set win.  EIU dominated the hitting game with a .424-to-.119 advantage, with just one hitting miscue as Hueston and Saalfrank each drilled four kills apiece.

Second set opened with a two-all tie, before the Bruins countered with their own run and hot attack game to eventually lead 19-13.  A kill by Josie Winner on the overpass and a off-speed shot by Saalfrank helped pull EIU to within four of Belmont, but classic side-out play by both squads would eventually give the Bruins the 25-19 win and even the match at one-all.  Belmont out-hit EIU .536-to-.367 as they cleaned up their hitting game with zero errors compared to four for EIU. Hueston led Eastern will 10 put-downs at that point of the match.

A Hueston put-down helped Eastern earn an early 7-3 third set lead, forcing Belmont to take a break in the action.  The Panthers would double-up the score at 8-4 and 12-6 before an error by Belmont's OVC 'Freshman of the Year' Person, would require the Bruins to burn their final timeout down 13-6 to the Panthers.  EIU continued to hold a five-to-six point advantage before the Bruins pulled to within 21-19 of the Panthers after Saalfrank was forced to leave the game with an injury, requiring an EIU timeout.  The set continued tied, as EIU stayed off one Belmont set-point before the Bruins held on for the 27-25 win and 2-1 lead in the match.  Despite the loss, Panthers out-hit Bruins, .222-to-.216.

Belmont jumped out to an early 7-1 lead in the final frame, but EIU would slowly pull to within 14-20 of the Bruins to force the Nashville squad to burn a timeout.  But the third seeded BEL squad would eventually hold on to take the set,25-17, and earn their fifth straight win over the Panthers in the previous matchups, since the Bruins joined the league in 2012.

For the match, EIU still led the hitting game with a .260-to-.248 attack margin, and also held the advantage in digs (60-to-54) and blocks (nine-to-eight), yet trailed Belmont in total kills and assists. 

2014 OVC All-Tournament Team
Sam Bedard, Murray State (MVP)
Kristen Besselsen, Murray State
Alyssa Lelm, Murray State
Arianna Person, Belmont
Emma Price, Belmont
Abby Saalfrank, Eastern Illinois
Courtney Smith, Tennessee Tech

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