Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Tweet #EIUBleedBlue

UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. – Eastern Illinois volleyball opened Penn State Alumni Classic play on Friday (Sep. 19) with a pair of losses at historic Rec Hall in Happy Valley, as the Panthers fell to East Carolina in five (25-22, 24-26, 24-26, 25-18, 15-8) before losing to the #3-Ranked Nittany Lions in three sets (25-10, 25-9, 25-17).
 
The two losses drop Eastern to 5-6 overall on the early-season.
 
In the early-morning five-set marathon versus East Carolina, four Eastern players registered double-digit kill numbers, led by freshman Allie Hueston's 13 put-downs.  She also had zero errors off 21 attacks to set a new EIU school record for hitting % in a five-set affair as she delivered an impressive .619 clip in the hard-fought loss.  The newcomer also paced all players on the court with five blocks, while leading EIU in points with 15.5 overall.
 
Juniors Chelsea Lee and Abby Saalfrank also registered 13 kills apiece, with Saalfrank coming one dig shy of adding to her season-high kill-dig double-doubles.  Redshirt freshman Josie Winner chipped in 12 additional kills as the Panthers hit .261 in the match.
 
The last time that an Eastern squad has had four players secure 10-or-more kills in a match was during the 2013 OVC tourney as Eastern Kentucky eliminated EIU in a five-set thriller to end the Panthers' season.
 
Junior Marah Bradbury dished out 49 assists and upped 16 Pirate attacks to secure her 25th career assist-dig duo-duo performance.  She also added three blocks and tied Saalfrank and classmate Stephanie Wallace with an ace apiece.
 
Wallace led all defenders in the contest with 19 digs while senior defensive specialist Dakota Springer added 11 of her own.
 
ECU also had four players with ten-plus kills, as junior Kierra Lee-Dunson led everyone with 20 kills and just three miscues.  Sydney Darden, Ashton Mares and Ashley McRae added 16, 15 and 13 put-downs, respectively, with Darden adding 17 digs which tied libero Lauren Bewick for back court honors.
 
East Carolina just out-hit the Panthers .286-to-.261, while also leading in kills (73-to-63), assists (70-to-59), aces (seven-to-three), digs (74-to-67), and points (84.0-to-73.5).  Eastern did win the blocking game via a 7.5-to-four advantage.
 
The meeting between the Panthers and Pirates, which featured 11 ties and five lead changes, marked the first such matchup on the volleyball court.
 
Meeting for just the fourth time, the Panther/Nittany Lion matchup featured five ties and two lead changes as the #3-Ranked Penn State squad used a hot attack to take the first two sets, as the host squad had just one miscue en route to first and second frame marks of .654 and .591, respectively.  EIU hit identical .154 marks in those two sets.
 
Eastern did go on a multi-point run mid-way through the final set to nearly double their previous points scored as PSU was held to a .233 attack.  The service game also played a factor in the contest as the Nittany Lions owned a 12-1 advantage over Eastern thanks to six aces and six Panther service errors.
 
Saalfrank led all Panthers with seven kills, while Winner chipped in six put-downs off a.286 attack.
 
EIU's Chelsea Lee added six kills of her own and paced Eastern with a .312 hitting %.  Lee actually faced her younger sister, Simone Lee, across the net as the younger Lee tied for top kill honors on her PSU unit with 10 kills and a .562 attack.  This marks the first time in EIU school history that a Panther volleyball player has faced a sibling on the other side of the court.
 
Nia Grant added 10 additional kills for the Lions as she drilled a .625 attack, while Aiyana Whitney hit even better at .667 and Micha Hancock added a .600 attack off six put-downs, ten digs and four aces.
 
Hueston again led the Panther net defense with a pair of assisted blocks, while Wallace added to her career dig mark as she upped 14 Penn State attacks to lead all players on the court.  Wallace need just 11 additional digs to add her name to the EIU 1,000-Dig Club.
 
Eastern will next face instate rivals DePaul and Illinois-Chicago at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday (Sep. 20) to finish up PSU Challenge action and complete the regular-season non-conference slate.  Panthers are set to open Ohio Valley Conference play on the road next weekend.

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