Photo Gallery (Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois volleyball fell to I-70 rival Indiana State this evening (Sep. 1) in a four set affair (25-19, 16-25, 25-17, 28-26), as the Panthers opened the home campaign at Lantz Arena.

The loss drops EIU to 3-1 overall on the early-season, while the Sycamores also move to 3-1 overall following the win.

Meeting for the 30th time on the volleyball court, the Panthers still maintain a 19-11 all-time series advantage over ISU despite tonight's setback.

Indiana State set the tone early in game number one by taking the first four points after a block and a pair of kills by Melody Burdette. After an EIU timeout, the Panthers went on a run of their own getting the game back even at 14-14 from the help of four kills by Allie Hueston, including three straight. The two teams battled back and forth over the next few points, but following a put-down by Marah Bradbury, the Sycamores rolled off the next eight points to take game one 19-25 over the host Panthers.

Chelsea Lee and Kayla Nesbitt came out firing for the Panthers in game two. The duo accounted for six of the Panthers first seven points in the early stages of the set. The Panthers led by as many as seven in part of a Lee service ace, but Indiana State made things interesting as they brought themselves within a point at 16-15. Just like Indiana State did in game one, the Panthers ended the second set on a streak of their own taking nine of the final 10 points of the set with a pair of Abby Saalfrank attacking winners. The Panthers took set two 25-16.

Going into set three tied at a game apiece, both teams were looking to take the early advantage. The Sycamores began to make their move in the third set following a Panther attacking error giving them a one point lead. After taking a 5-6 lead, ISU would never trailed again, eventually taking frame by a score of 25-17.

This past weekend, EIU played in an elimination set down two games to none to Central Michigan at the IPFW Invitation, but went on to take the next three sets and win the match 3-2. The Panthers looked to use some of that same magic again in the fourth set against ISU.  Set four was shaping up just the same as this past weekend when the Panthers seemed to gain some early momentum in part to a service ace from Saalfrank giving EIU an 8-5 lead. The Sycamores again tied the game up at 10-10, and the trading of points between the two teams occurred once more. Three straight kills from Saalfrank, Hueston, and Lee brought the game to 20-17 in favor of the host team. With the game all tied at 26-26 a controversial call against the Panthers where they thought they had the point, instead went to ISU to give them the 27-26 lead. ISU would then take the next point to win the set, 26-28, and the match.   

Coach Wolinski on the game, "We have to be better with the uncontrollable and take care of the things we can control."

Lee and Hueston finished the match in double-digit kills with 15 (.323 hitting %) and 13 (.300) respectively. Hueston added six blocks to her totals on the night. Stephanie Wallace dug out 17 hits for the Panther defense.  

The Panthers will now get ready for another early-season weekend tournament, this time at the DePaul Invitational this coming Friday-Saturday (Sept. 4-5). Eastern will take on Evansville at 4:30 pm on Friday, followed by matchups with Toledo and the host Blue Demons at 10 am and 7:30 pm, respectively, on Saturday.