CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois University volleyball team did not skip a beat from last night's performance against TTU and continued it into today's contest against Jacksonville State. The Panthers defeated the Gamecocks in straight sets (25-15,25-19,25-19) and upped their conference record to 2-0.
In front of a large crowd, squaring off against another conference foe in consecutive days, the EIU Panthers looked to remain in the upper portion of the conference after this weekend's results.
The Panther offense caused havoc for the JSU defense in the beginning of the first set. A pair of
Maria Brown kills put the Panthers ahead 6-2. The Gamecocks would chip away at the lead, but only momentarily as an
Allie Hueston kill began an 11-4 run for EIU to close out the first set 25-15.
JSU jumped ahead in the second set for an early lead, but the lead would not last long as EIU began to take over the set toward the middle points. With the score of 10-8 in favor of the Panthers, JSU took a timeout to regroup. During that time out, EIU's senior libero –
Stephanie Wallace – was honored for becoming the new record holder for career digs as her second dig in the set provided her record breaking 1,667 career dig. The Panthers kept with their attack following the Gamecock timeout, as their lead grew to as many as seven.
Abby Saalfrank put the second set away with a kill of her own, finishing the set at 25-19.
EIU was determined to defeat another conference opponent in straight sets for the second game in a row, but JSU did all they could to keep the game close in hopes of forcing a fourth set.
Taylor Smith tied the game at 7-7 with a kill, and the Panthers began to take all the momentum away from the Gamecocks.
Kayla Nesbitt put EIU ahead by four 20-16, and JSU was forced to call another timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the duo of Hueston and Saalfrank used a pair of kills each, with Hueston contributing the match winner as the Panthers came out on top 25-19.
The Hueston and Saalfrank duo led EIU's attack with 14 and 11 kill respectively. On the defensive side, the Panthers used a team effort which included 14 digs from Wallace, 13 by
Anne Hughes, and Brown chipped in 12.
Abby Knight added four blocks to help with the Panther net-defense.
Coach Wolinski was pleased with the team result and effort in the match against JSU saying, "We have a balanced offence… with the tempo we are running, so it makes it hard to decide… for opponents on who to defend, so running that 6-2 and having a three hitter phase the entire time in the front row, that is on purpose by us, we have three hitters in the front row who can put the ball away from us."
The Panthers continue their conference play this week, first, with a midweek contest on Wednesday, (Sept. 30) at SIU Edwardsville. The Panthers then travel to Belmont on Saturday, (Oct. 3) in a battle of top-tier OVC teams.
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