MUNCIE, Ind. – Eastern Illinois volleyball ended Ball State Active Ankle Challenge play with a perfect Saturday mark, as the Panthers downed the host Cardinals and Western Illinois by respective 3-1 and 3-0 scores. The final day sweep moves EIU to 2-1 on the early season.
After dropping a tough five set affair to Northern Colorado on Friday which had the Panthers ahead 2-0 early on, EIU countered with hot play versus the host Cardinals with a 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 25-22 upset win over preseason MAC West Division favorite Ball State squad.
Panthers finish as runner-up team honors as Ball State swept Northern Colorado for the title, while juniors
Chelsea Lee and
Stephanie Wallace both represented EIU on the All-Tournament squad.
In the morning contest versus BSU, junior rightside
Abby Saalfrank paced all players with 20 kills, setting a new career mark in the process, while hitting .375 for the match as well. She also added 14 digs to nab her second straight double-double on the year.
Classmate
Chelsea Lee chipped in 11 put-downs from the outside attack as she committed just two miscues for a .360 clip.
Redshirt freshman
Josie Winner added nine kills and .304 attack, while newcomers
Allie Hueston and
Maria Brown added eight kills as well with Hueston leading all Panthers at the net with three blocks.
Junior setter
Marah Bradbury dished out 52 assists on the 61 total Panther kills as EIU hit .296 in the win, including a high of .483 in the second set.
Defensively, junior libero
Stephanie Wallace tallied 16 digs and senior
Dakota Springer upped 17 Cardinal attacks to lead the backcourt.
EIU held the advantage over BSU (1-1) in kills, attack, assists, digs, and points, while the Cardinals led the service game with a six-to-three lead in aces, as well as an eight-to-six block advantage.
With the win, Eastern now holds a 3-2 lead in the all-time series history, with all three of the victories coming on the Cardinals' home court.
In the afternoon matchup with Western (0-3), despite getting off to a slow start, EIU would eventually claw past the Leathernecks for a 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 sweep. The win moves the Panthers ahead of WIU in the all-time series history, 20-to-12.
This time around Brown would lead the Eastern attack off 12 kills and a .357 attack, while Winner and Lee each added seven kills.
Bradbury added 33 assists in the second match win as EIU led the stat game over WIU in kills, attack, assists, aces, digs, blocks, and points.
In defensive numbers, Hueston once again paced the blocking game with five stuffs, including one solo and four assisted roofs, while Wallace added 15 digs.
Eastern returns to early season tournament action next weekend with an immediate rematch versus the Leathernecks as the Panthers travel to Macomb to partake in the two-day WIU Invitational. Besides facing WIU, EIU will also take on regional foe Saint Louis and UTEP.
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS1 - Ball State (2-1) ... 7-3 (.700 set winning %)
2 - Eastern Illinois (2-1) ...
8-4 (.667)3 - Northern Colorado (2-1) ... 6-6 (.500)
4 - Western Illinois (0-3) ... 1-9 (.100)
BSU CHALLENGE ALL-TOURNEY TEAMMVP – Kelly Hopkins, BSU
Alex Fuelling, BSU
Jenna Spadafora, BSU
Chelsea Lee, EIU
Stephanie Wallace, EIUAndrea Spaustat, UNC
Molly Murphy, WIU
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
