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MACOMB, Ill. – Eastern Illinois volleyball split final day action to earn Western Illinois Invitational team runner-up honors as the Panthers lost to champion Saint Louis but outlasted UTEP by identical four-set contests.

EIU fell to the Billikens (24-26, 25-20, 25-18, 25-22) in the morning before gutting out a win over the Miners (25-22, 21-25, 27-25, 27-25) to move to 4-2 on the early season. 

Junior Abby Saalfrank continued her hot weekend play as she secured two additional kill-dig double-doubles on the day.  She tallied 13 kills and 10 digs versus SLU and then added 22 put-downs and 12 ups against UTEP, on top of her earlier Friday duo-duo against the host Leathernecks.  For her efforts she nabbed all-tournament honors, as EIU freshman Allie Hueston also received her first all-tourney recognition as well.

Junior Chelse Lee and newcomer Maria Brown added 12 kills each in the loss to the Billikens as Lee led all Panthers with a .310 attack.  Junior Stephanie Wallace led the backrow defense with 17 digs, while Lee tied senior Kelsey Roggemann with three blocks at the net.

The loss to SLU featured 26 tie scores and 10 lead changes as the Panthers out-hit the Billikens .231-to-.175 in the first frame win, before the eventual tourney champs countered by out-hitting EIU the rest of the way for the four-set win.

In EIU's final tourney matchup versus the Miners, Lee chipped in 13 additional kills for EIU, while Wallace led all players on the court with 25 digs.  Defensive specialists Kelsey Brooke and Dakota Springer added respective 14 and 16 ups as Eastern held the dig advantage over UTEP, 84-to-81.

The squad from west Texas actually led the Panthers in team kills, attack, blocks, and points, yet EIU did out-pace UTEP in assists and aces.

Panthers continue early-season tourney action next weekend as EIU travels to Brookings, S.D. to partake in the two-day South Dakota State Challenge versus Iowa, North Dakota and the host Jackrabbits.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1 - Saint Louis (3-0)
2 - Eastern Illinois (2-1)
3 - UTEP (1-2)
4 - Western Illinois (0-3)
 
WIU INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNEY TEAM
MVP - Meredith Boe, SLU
Lauren Leverenz, SLU
Taylor Paulson, SLU
Allie Hueston, EIU
Abby Saalfrank, EIU
Lindsey Larson, UTEP
Samantha Fournier, WIU

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