Photo Gallery (Credit Sandy King, EIU Athletics)CHARLESTON, Ill. – As the Eastern Illinois University volleyball team honored those who have served our country for "Veteran's Night," EIU had a battle of their own with the SIU Edwardsville Cougars. The Panthers defended their home-court in come-from-behind fashion to earn a 3-2 victory over the visiting Cougars (20-25, 22-25, 25-11, 27-25, 15-10) and improve to 11-4 in the OVC.
SIU Edwardsville set the tone early in the first-set as they jumped out to a commanding 10-5 lead before an EIU timeout. SIU Edwardsville would extend their lead to nine points, before the Panthers started to find their rhythm. A kill by
Allie Hueston followed by two SIU Edwardsville errors knotted the game up at 20-20. The Cougars would finish off the set with five straight points however, and took the first-set 25-20.
The Panthers would keep the second-set close as a
Chelsea Lee kill would mark the score at 15-15. The Cougars would earn themselves a three point lead late in the set, but
Josie Winner brought the Panther back to within a single score 21-20 with a kill of her own. EIU appeared as if they were on their way to steal the set away from the Cougars as they were ahead 23-22. The Panthers were called for an illegal server, and the score was changed to 23-21 in favor of SIU Edwardsville. Two straight kills by the Cougars sealed the second-set victory 25-22.
The Panthers came out with a sense of urgency in the third-set, striking early and often. Three kills by Winner would put the Panthers out front 6-1 to begin the third-set before a Cougar timeout. The Panthers would increase their lead to 11 points with the help of another Lee kill and a Cougar error. EIU would go on a 6-0 run to finish off the third-set, capped off by another kill by Lee at 25-11.
This time the Cougars were the ones who jumped out to the quick start to begin the fourth-set at a 5-1 advantage. The lead would not las long however, as
Maria Brown gave EIU a 7-6 lead with a kill. Three straight aces from SIU Edwardsville's Kristen Torre gave the Cougars the lead once more. The Cougars would see themselves ahead 21-13, but EIU began their comeback. Back-to-back kills from Brown cut the Cougar lead to two points before a SIU Edwardsville timeout. The Panthers would not break stride, as they would tie the set on three different occasions with the last being 25-25. Two straight errors from the Cougars gave the Panthers the fourth-set decision 27-25.
The fifth-set started out as a back-and-forth set between the two teams. After Lee tied the score one final time at 6-6, EIU began to pull away. The Panthers would score the next four points, and carry that momentum throughout the rest of the set as another Cougar error allowed EIU to clinch the fifth-set 15-10.
Lee ended with a match-high of 23 kills on the night, as Winner chipped in 14 and Hueston added 11 kills each.
Stephanie Wallace set a new career-high for digs in a match with 35 to lead the Panther defense.
Taylor Smith added another double-double to her name as she finished the match with 53 assists and 22 digs.
"I thought our back row was phenomenal.
Stephanie Wallace had 35 digs, Taylor had 22. We out-dug them by 25 that kept us in the match that is huge. At 105-80 that is gut-check and perseverance about our team that we were going to make sure we got balls up no matter what" said Head Coach Wolinski after the win.
The Panthers will prepare for their final regular season match this Saturday (Nov. 14) as they play host to Tennessee State at 2:00 p.m. The five Panther seniors –
Marah Bradbury,
Chelsea Lee,
Kayla Nesbitt,
Abby Saalfrank, and
Stephanie Wallace – will be honored as part of the "Senior Day" celebration.
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