MOREHEAD, Ky. – Playing in their last regular season road match of the 2015 season, the Panthers fell in five sets at Morehead State (23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 12-15) and drop to 10-4 in the OVC.

The first-set started out close between Eastern Illinois and Morehead State. Maria Brown tied the set at 15-15 with a kill. Morehead State would work to earn the next three points in the set to jump ahead 18-15. Abby Saalfrank gave the Panthers a 22-21 lead late in the set, but the Panthers were unable to hold their lead as Morehead State would take the first-set victory 25-23.

Morehead State carried their momentum from the first-set into the second-set as they raced out to a commanding 8-3 lead. The Panthers would close the gap and only trail Morehead State by a single point at 9-8 capped off by a Chelsea Lee kill. The Eagles would extend their lead to four points, but once again, EIU would rally back as this time the Panthers would put themselves ahead 19-17. The Panthers would score three straight points to finish the second-set by a score of 25-21.

A kill by Saalfrank put EIU ahead 3-0 to begin the third-set, but a three point swing from the Eagles tied the set at 3-3. The score would be tied at 11 other times during the set, with the last coming from another Saalfrank kill putting the score at 16-16. The Eagles would go on to score the next four points, and would not look back from there as they would earn the third-set 25-22.

A string of six straight points during the middle portion of the fourth-set played a key part for the Panthers to force a fifth-set. With EIU ahead, 16-13 during the fourth-set, a kill from Allie Hueston got things rolling for the Panthers big run. Morehead tried to rally late, but an Eagles' service error gave EIU the fourth-set victory 25-17.

Back-to-back errors by Morehead and a Lee kill put EIU out front 3-1 to start the fifth-set. Morehead State gathered a three-point lead, but a Taylor Smith service ace would tie the score at 10-10. Morehead State used a 5-2 run to steal the fifth-set away from EIU at 15-12.

Lee posted a strong night on the attacking end for the Panthers as she finished with 19 kills. Brown also saw herself in double-digit kills with 11. Anne Hughes led the Panther defense with 18 digs, as Stephanie Wallace pitched in 15. Josie Winner slowed down the free-swinging Morehead attack with 11 blocks. Smith earned herself a double-double as she finished with 50 assists to her 13 digs.

Coach Wolinski spoke after the loss saying, "(It was a) tough battle tonight and we came out on the losing side unfortunately. Our block really came through in the last few sets as Josie led us with 11 block assists. Chelsea Lee had another solid game for us attacking on the left side. We need to improve our serve receive this upcoming week at practice. It will be nice to be back at home this week before the OVC tournament."

The Panthers will finish up their 2015 regular season schedule next week as they host SIU Edwardsville on November 11, and Tennessee State on November 14 in Lantz Arena.