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BROOKINGS, S.D. – Eastern Illinois volleyball completed Saturday (Sep. 13) South Dakota State Challenge action by splitting a pair of three-set affairs, as the Panthers swept the host Jackrabbits (27-25, 25-15, 25-12), but fell to North Dakota (25-19, 25-15, 25-23).

The split moves the Panthers to 5-4 overall in early-season non-conference tournament play, as the junior duo of Marah Bradbury and Abby Saalfrank represented Eastern on the all-tourney squad.

For the third straight tournament, the Panthers earned a win over the host squad as junior Abby Saalfrank paced all players with a 17-kill, 12-dig double-double.  She also hit .303 in the three-set win while securing 18.0 total points.

Newcomer Allie Hueston chipped in 11 kills of her own off a .421 attack, adding team-best three aces for 14 total points.

Junior libero Stephanie Wallace led the back court with 13 digs, while senior Kelsey Roggemann secured a trio of blocks in net defense.

The match featured just 10 ties and four lead changes, all of which came via the tight first set, as EIU was actually out-hit, .088 to .105 by the host squad in the frame.

From that point on, however, the Panthers controlled the contest by jumping to early leads and holding on for quick victories in the sweep as EIU controlled the attack advantage via leads of .270 to .083 in the second set and .500 to .160 in the final frame.

EIU now leads the series history over SDSU (4-6) with their second consecutive win all-time as the Panthers led in every statistical category except for blocks.  The Jackrabbits had no player reach double-digit kills.

In the nightcap loss to North Dakota (8-4), the Panthers hit a season-low .048 as junior Chelsea Lee led the offense with nine kills , while Hueston added seven additional kills and tied Roggemann with three stuffs.

Junior Marah Bradbury just missed recording yet another assist-dig double-double as she came one dig shy of such a performance.  Wallace again paced EIU with 13 digs, as Saalfrank and senior Kelsey Brooke both upped 11 UND attacks.

As the two squads met for the first time on the volleyball court, UND earned just two more kills and assists than EIU, but held the advantage at the net with a 15-to-seven block lead.  The Panthers did own the service game with four aces to none for UND.

Panthers will now prepare for their final non-conference tournament of the season as EIU travels to Happy Valley to partake in the two-day, five-team Penn State Alumni Classic.  EIU will face East Carolina, DePaul, Illinois-Chicago, and the host Nittany Lions.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
Iowa ... 4-0
North Dakota ... 3-1
Eastern Illinois ... 1-2
South Dakota State ... 1-3
Florida International ... 0-3

SDSU CHALLENGE ALL-TOURNEY TEAM
Jess Janota, Iowa
Allessandra Dietz, Iowa
Faith Dooley, UND
Anne Pioske, UND
Marah Bradbury, EIU
Abby Saalfrank, EIU
Tiara Gibson, SDSU
Wagner Larson, SDSU
Lucia Castro, FIU
Anabela Sataric, FIU

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