NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a game that had early implications for rankings within the OVC between two of the top preseason teams, the EIU Panthers came up short as they dropped a four set affair to Belmont 3-1 on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 3). The Belmont decision marked the first loss in conference play this season for the Panthers, as their record dropped to 3-1 in the OVC.

Belmont used the home-court advantage in their favor to begin the first set. The Bruins applied pressure early and often to the Panther defense. An Allie Hueston kill brought EIU back within eight at 16-8, but the Belmont attacking game was too much for the Panthers in the first set as Belmont would win the first game 25-13.

EIU was able to keep the Bruins attacking game in check for most of the second set, as the Panthers would only trail twice in the set in the early goings of game two. With the Panthers ahead by a single score, a Maria Brown put-down increased the lead to 14-12, and would begin an EIU rally to finish off the second set by a 25-19 decision.

The Belmont attacking game reappeared in the third set with the constant pressure the Panthers saw in the first game.  A kill by Kayla Nesbitt followed by a Bruin attacking error, cut the Belmont lead to 13-10, but that would be as close as EIU would get for the rest of the set as Belmont would earn themselves a third set victory by the score of 25-17.

The Panthers were in an uphill battle from the beginning of the fourth set as Belmont raced out to an early 5-1 lead. EIU would trim the lead to two points on a three different occasions with a Taylor Smith adding to the cause, but the Panthers were unsuccessful in putting a string of points together and would drop the deciding fourth set 25-19 to the Bruins.

Smith finished with a double-double tallying 13 assists to 10 digs; While Stephanie Wallace added 19 digs for the Panther defense. Hueston was the leading attacker for EIU as she totaled 11 kills with a .320 hitting percentage.   

Coach Wolinski was noted after the game saying, "Belmont did a great job executing their game plan against us. We played our style in the second set, but their serving kept us out of system all match. We made too many errors overall today as a team."

The Panthers will continue their conference play next weekend as they travel to Murray State (Oct. 9) and Austin Peay (Oct. 10).