Box Score MACOMB, Ill. – Eastern Illinois volleyball opened Western Illinois Invitational action on Friday (Sep. 5) with a five-set win over the host Leathernecks (25-17, 25-21, 27-29, 18-25, 15-9), improving the Panthers to 3-1 on the early season.
Junior
Abby Saalfrank paced all players with a 25-kill, 15-dig double-double, her third such performance of the season. She hit .288 and tallied 27.0 points in the match as her 25 put-downs set a new career high for the rightside attacker.
Classmate
Marah Bradbury also secured her own duo-duo behind 49-assists and 18-digs as she helped the Panthers hit .202 for the match. She also finished with eight kills, off an impressive .471 attack, and tied senior
Kelsey Brooke with a pair of aces.
Newcomer
Allie Hueston tallied seven total blocks to lead all players at the net, while junior libero
Stephanie Wallace and senior defensive specialist
Dakota Springer secured respective 20 and 25 digs in the back row defense.
The match featured 28 ties and 16 lead changes as the Panthers jumped to a 2-0 lead before the host squad countered with a tough 29-27 third set win, despite the Panthers serving at match-point several times in the frame. The Leathernecks knotted the contest with a fourth set win to force a fifth frame.
The Panthers out-hit the tourney hosts, .222-to-.000 in the deciding set to pick up their second consecutive win over their cross-state rivals this season, as EIU previously swept the Leathernecks last weekend at the season-opening Ball State Challenge.
Three different Leatherneck players registered double-digit kills for Western (0-4) as junior Peyton Crosser led with 18 put-downs, followed by 14 and 12 kills from classmate Jordan Jackson and senior Ann Miller, respectively.
EIU held the advantage over WIU in kills, attack, assists, digs, blocks, and points, while the Leathernecks finished ahead of Eastern in the service game.
With the win, Eastern now leads Western, 21-12, in the all-time DI series history and have won two consecutive five-set affairs in Macomb.
The Panthers will finish up Saturday tournament action as EIU takes on the Billikens of Saint Louis at 10 a.m. and the Miners of UTEP at  5 p.m.  Earlier in the evening, SLU earned a three-set sweep of UTEP.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
