Box Score
CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois volleyball team had a quick turnaround following their Friday night match against Austin Peay as the Panthers hosted Murray State Saturday afternoon. The Panthers battled close with one of the top teams in the Ohio Valley Conference, but were defeated by Murray State in three sets (20-25, 18-25, 18-25). Eastern Illinois now stands at 4-17 on the season and 1-5 in OVC matches. The Panthers will prepare for a pair of conference matches next weekend (Oct. 14-15) as they host Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State in Lantz Arena.
The first set would start out close between Eastern Illinois and Murray State as the score would become tied on 11 different occasions.
Maria Brown knotted the score at 16-16 on a kill, but Murray State began to pull away in the set. With the help of a 5-0 run, Murray State took a 22-17 lead late over the Panthers. After
Allie Hueston and
Josie Winner combined on a block,
Gina Furlin would record back-to-back service aces to pull the Panthers within two points at 22-20. Murray State closed the first set on a 3-0 run to pick up a 25-20 victory.
Murray State's Audrey Lewis broke a 3-3 tie with a kill as the Racers never looked back the rest of the set. Murray State used a 7-0 run in the middle of the set to extend their lead to 14-5 and force the Panthers into a timeout. The Panthers cut the deficit to five points at 15-10 on a block by
Katie Sommer and Hueston, but that would be as close as EIU would get as Murray State took the second set 25-18.
Murray State raced out to a 5-0 to begin the first set as Eastern Illinois called a timeout. The timeout worked in the Panthers favor as they would score the next four points capped off by an ace by Winner. Murray State used a pair of four-point runs to pull away from Eastern Illinois and took the final set 25-18.
Winner led the Panthers with eight kills and 10 digs. Hueston finished with a match-high five total blocks for EIU.
