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Pre-Weekend Match Notes (PDF.)

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois University volleyball team continued Ohio Valley Conference last week on the road as they traveled to SIU Edwardsville and Belmont. The Panthers earned a split in the two games as they defeated SIU Edwardsville 3-1 on Sept. 30, before falling to Belmont 1-3 on Oct. 3. EIU will continue OVC play this week away from home as they travel to Murray State on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m., and will finish the weekend at Austin Peay on Oct. 10 at 2 p.m. 

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, OCT. 9
    at  Murray State, 7 pm, Racer Arena, Murray, Ky. (Live Stats) / (Live Video)

SATURDAY, OCT. 10
    at Austin Peay, 2 pm, Winfield Dunn Center, Clarksville, Tenn. (Live Stats) / (Live Video)

SPLIT DECISION
The Eastern Illinois University volleyball team hit the road to begin week two of their 2015 OVC schedule. The Panthers were slated with a midweek matchup against SIUE before a highly anticipated matchup against the OVC's preseason number two ranked team, Belmont. EIU earned a split between the two contests, as they were able to come away with a four-set victory at SIUE before dropping another four-set game at Belmont. The Panthers now sit tied for second place with Belmont at a 3-1 record. Murray State is the lone undefeated team remaining in OVC play posting a 3-0 campaign thus far.

After a brief two game stint at home in Lantz Arena, just a few short days before, the Panthers were once again on the road, this time traveling to SIUE. The Panthers being no strangers to road contests, as the match against SIUE marked their 14th of such kind on the season, were determined to keep building off their current perfect record in OVC play. Despite losing their first set in conference play to begin the season, the Panthers were able to pull out a 3-1 victory against the Cougars 25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22.

Facing a team who was selected as one of the two teams to finish ahead of the Panthers in the OVC in the preseason polls, the Panthers knew they were going to be tested at Belmont. After struggling to get anything going in the first set, EIU was able to steal a second set victory. The Belmont attack came back firing on all cylinders in the final two sets of the match as the Panthers dropped their first OVC match of the season 1-3 by scores of 13-25, 25-19, 17-25, 19-25.

HUESTON CONTINUES CONSISTENT HITTING
Sophomore middle-hitter, Allie Hueston has asserted herself as one of the top attackers in the OVC this season. Following last week's results, Hueston has currently totaled a team-high 44 kills and 3.14 kill per set average in conference play. With only seven errors on 79 attempts, Hueston is hitting at a .468 percent which marks as the second best in the OVC only behind Murray State's – Alyssa Lelm – who has posted a .483 hitting percentage in conference matches.

QUOTING COACH WOLINSKI
When asked about what is something the Panthers can take away from the Belmont loss and build on as a unit, coach Wolinski responded with, "Not allowing the uncontrollable to get us, and remember that we do not want this type of loss to occur again in the OVC."

Wolinski continued to discuss about their next opponent, Murray State saying, "Murray is a very solid team that executes at a very high level. We just need to make sure that we are playing at a high and consistent level ourselves. One way (to slow their attack down) will be to execute in our side out game. We need to be one and done against their servers."

She finished by noting on the play of Hueston stating, "She is a go to player for us. We can count on her to put the ball down for us in the front row whenever we need a kill. It is nice that she is an option for us at all times."

LEE 1,000 POINT HONORS
Senior outside-hitter Chelsea Lee has recently earned honors as EIU's newest member to the 1,000 point club. She currently has 1,016.5 points for her career. Lee has tallied 933 career kills, and is in search of 67 more to join teammate, Abby Saalfrank, as active Panthers on the 1,000 kills list.

PANTHERS IN THE OVC
Despite the loss to Belmont, several Panthers still remain within the top 10 in the OVC statistically. Hueston continues to pace the Panther attacking game, and with that, sports the second best hitting percentage in the league at a .468 mark. She rounds out the top ten list in kills per set with 3.14 and points per set at 3.61. Kayla Nesbitt and Saalfrank hold the ninth and 10th best hitting percentage marks in conference play at .307 and .303 respectively. At a 4.71 digs per set average, Stephanie Wallace currently places herself in fifth place in the conference.

The Panthers as an entire unit have placed themselves in the top 10 rankings in the OVC with their play thus far in conference matches. EIU has earned second best marks in hitting percentage (.268), assists per set (12.93), kills per set (14.00), and digs per set (17.57). They also hold their opponents to the sixth lowest hitting percentage at .191. At one and a half blocks per set and 0.93 aces per set, the Panthers see themselves as 10th best statistically in the league in those categories.

SCOUTING THE RACERS AND LADY GOVS
EIU holds a slight 23-19 edge over the Racers in the all-time series despite Murray State winning both matches last season.

Murray State currently stands at 3-0 in the OVC and is scheduled for a midweek contest versus Austin Peay (Oct. 7), before the Panthers pay the Racers a visit on Friday (Sept. 9). Going along with their perfect 3-0 record in conference play, the Racers have yet to drop a set in any match they have played in conference matchups as they have swept Southeast Missouri, UT Martin, & Eastern Kentucky in straight sets. Four time, OVC Setter of the Week honoree, Sam Bedard looks to pace the strong Racer attacking game.

EIU sees themselves with a small advantage over Austin Peay in the all-time series as it currently stands at 21-17 in favor of the Panthers. EIU is currently riding a five game winning streak in the series.

Austin Peay is currently winless in the conference at an 0-3 mark, but has conferences matches against Murray State and SIU Edwardsville prior to facing EIU in hopes of improving their record. ASPU uses a pair of players to lead their attacking game as Ashley Slay and Samantha Strother both have recorded over 20 kills in their three conference contests.

A LOOK AHEAD
Following this week's OVC games, EIU will return home to continue their OVC schedule. The Panthers will square off against UT-Martin on Oct. 16 and Southeast Missouri on Oct. 17.