CHARLESTON, Ill. – A common theme of five set matches occurs when Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois square off in volleyball. Four of the last five meetings between the Panthers and Redhawks have gone on to five sets, with EIU only coming out on top in one of those matches. Today, EIU broke the trend and outlasted SEMO in an important OVC contest as the Panthers came away victorious 3-2 by scores of 25-22, 24-26, 20-25, 25-17, 16-14 and improve to 6-2 in the OVC.
The presumption that another close match between the two sides could be seen once the first set got underway. With the score tied on 10 separate occasions leading up to a Redhawk kill to tie the set up for the final time at 18-18, the Panthers began to take control of the set with a pair of
Taylor Smith kills. A SEMO timeout broke the Panther rhythm momentarily, but
Chelsea Lee finished off the set with a kill at 25-22 in favor of EIU.
The Panthers looked like they kept their rhythm to begin the second set as
Maria Brown put EIU ahead 20-14 with a kill. From there, the Redhawks began to work their way back into the set. SEMO would go on a 10-4 run to tie the set up at 24-24. A pair of Panther errors helped the Redhawks complete their comeback and take the second set 26-24.
The Panthers saw themselves looking up to the Redhawks to begin the third set, as SEMO scored the first three points in the set to get their offense going. The Panthers were able to cut the Redhawk lead to a single point a pair of times in the set, and an ace from
Marah Bradbury caused SEMO to take a timeout still ahead 15-13. The timeout did its justice for SEMO as they began to pull away late in the third set. Another Panther error gave SEMO the 25-20 third set victory.
Kayla Nesbitt tied the fourth set up at 4-4, and from there, the Panthers began to get things clicking on the offensive end. EIU was able to extend their lead to 22-17 following a SEMO error. SEMO once again tried to call a timeout to break the Panthers' momentum, but this time were unsuccessful in doing so. A pair a kills from
Allie Hueston and a final kill from Nesbitt clinched the fourth set 25-17, forcing a game five.
EIU appeared as if they were going to run away with the fifth set, jumping out to a 5-2 lead due to another Nesbitt put-down. The Redhawks came storming back however, and would knot the set up at 11-11, before an EIU timeout. After SEMO took a 14-13 lead and playing for match-point, EIU again called for a timeout. The Panthers came out firing after the timeout with three straight kills, one by Smith and two by Nesbitt to come away with the 16-14 fifth set victory.
Smith finished off a career day with her fourth triple-double of the year totaling 16 kills, 28 assists, and 22 digs.
Maria Brown earned herself a double-double on the day as she finished with 12 kill and 12 digs. Lee (14) and Hueston (17) also finished with double-digit kill marks.
Anne Hughes and
Stephanie Wallace rounded out the Panther defense with 20 and 18 digs respectively.
"It was a great gut-check win for our team, and not letting the uncontrollables get to them, as we got back to playing our style… We had so much balance on offence,
Taylor Smith had another triple-double. We had four other people with double-digit digs. Marah did a great job of making some great choices when she was out there, that was huge for us" said Coach Wolinski after the five set win over SEMO.
The Panthers will continue OVC play next weekend in Lantz Arena as they host Austin Peay on October 23, and finish the weekend with a highly anticipated rematch with Murray State on October 24 as part of Homecoming Weekend at Eastern Illinois.
