Box Score
CHARLESTON, Ill. – In the first of two matches for Eastern Illinois volleyball at the EIU Panther Classic, the Panthers were set to face Bowling Green. The visiting Falcons stole a five-set win over the Panthers. Eastern Illinois fell by scores of 17-25, 25-22, 25-22, 16-25, and 13-15 and drops to 2-8 on the season. EIU will complete tournament play at the Panther Classic later tonight as they square-off against Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m.
The Panthers came out with a sense of urgency to begin the first set as they took the first three points to open up the match against Bowling Green. The Panthers got a kill each from
Josie Winner and a service ace from
Maria Brown to take an early 3-0 lead. After Bowling Green tied the set at 5-5, the Panthers worked a pair of four-point leads at 9-5 and 12-8. Bowling Green cut into the EIU lead in the middle of the set and tied the score at 14-14. Bowling Green would score the next seven points in the set to take a 21-14 lead. Bowling Green would close out the set on three-straight points and won the first set 25-17.
The second set played very close between Bowling Green and Eastern Illinois as the score would become tied on 18 different occasions. After EIU took the lead 9-8, the Panthers extended their lead to 12-9 on a
Taylor Smith ace. The battle would go back-and-forth between BGSU and EIU as a
Katie Sommer kill knotted the score at 22-22. The Panthers would score the final three points in the set, capped off by a Brown kill to tie the match at 1-1.
The Panthers found themselves with a 10-7 lead in the early parts of the third set on a block by
Maggie Runge and Sommer. Despite BGSU rallying back to tie the set at 11-11, the Panthers once again jumped ahead on the scoreboard. Back-to-back kills by
Abby Knight and a Bowling Green error gave EIU a 17-15 advantage. The Panthers closed the third set scoring four of the final five points in the set as a Bowling Green error gave EIU the 25-22 set win.
Bowling Green picked up an early 3-2 lead to begin the fourth set and would not trail the rest of the way. The Panthers managed to tie the score at 5-5 on a Knight and Sommer block. Knight would tie the score once more for EIU at 6-6 on a kill. Rungie tied the score one final time at 7-7 on a kill. Bowling Green began to pull away from the Panthers and extended their lead to eight-points at 22-14. Brown gave the Panthers one final comeback effort on a kill, but BGSU put the Panthers away on a kill by Jelena Sunjic to take the 25-16 set win.
The Panthers came out strong to begin the deciding fifth set. Back-to-back aces by Brown and a Winner kill gave EIU an early 3-1 lead. BGSU rallied back to tie the score at 4-4, but the Panthers would again move ahead as a Brown kill put the score at 7-5 in favor of EIU and forced Bowling Green to take a timeout. After the two teams traded points, Bowling Green and Eastern Illinois switched sides at the midway point in the set with EIU ahead 8-6. Bowling Green chipped away and eventually tied the score at 11-11. After EIU and BGSU both worked a lead momentarily, the set was tied at 13-13. Bowling Green scored the final two points in the set to take the 15-13 win and won the match 3-2.
Josie Winner led EIU with 12 kills against BGSU. Smith posted a double-double with 18 assists and 12 digs. Brown added 12 digs in the match for the Panthers.
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In the first match of the second day at the EIU Panther Classic, Drake defeated Louisiana Tech in straight-sets. Kyla Inderski and Makena Schoene led Drake with 11 kills each. Alexa Lister and Angela Papach posted eight-kill marks each for LA Tech.
