Game One Box | Game Two Box

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Eastern Illinois was slated to face some tough competition to begin the Tiger Invitational on Friday night in Memphis, Tennessee. The Panthers were up against Louisiana Tech and Memphis in the first day of competition. The Panthers fell to Louisiana Tech 3-1 and Memphis 3-0 to begin the invitational. The Panthers will wrap up the Tiger Invitational tomorrow at 12 p.m. against Jackson State.

With the losses, the Panthers fell to 0-6 to begin the season.

Game One: Louisiana Tech 3, EIU 1 (12-25, 21-25, 25-21, 19-25)
Eastern Illinois and Louisiana Tech squared off to open up the Tiger Invitational with the first game of the tournament. After falling behind two games to none, the Panthers picked up a third set win, but Louisiana Tech put the Panthers away in the fourth set to earn a 3-1 victory.

Louisiana Tech came out of the gates strong as they quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead before an EIU timeout. The timeout would break the Louisiana Tech rhythm ever so slightly as a service error would give the Panthers their first point of the set followed by a kill each by Katie Sommer and Maggie Runge to cut the Louisiana Tech lead to 8-3. Louisiana Tech went on another extended run, this time 6-1, to take a 14-4 advantage before another EIU timeout. After a kill by Brooke Short for Louisiana Tech, Eastern Illinois would score the next three points on a kill each from Taylor Smith and Abby Knight and a block from the pair to move the score to 15-7. The Panthers could not string together another run as Louisiana Tech took the first set 25-12.

The second set was played much closer between the two teams. The score would become tied on seven different occasions, with the final time at 13-13, before the Panthers went on a little run. The Panthers would lead by as many as four points at 18-14 on back-to-back kills from Maria Brown and a Sommer block. Louisiana Tech began to chip away at the Panthers lead, and eventually overtook the lead at 20-19 before a block by Smith and Runge tied the score at 20-20. Louisiana Tech kept the momentum on their side of the court as they scored five of the final six points to win the second set 25-21.

Determined to not go down in straight-sets, the Panthers battled with Louisiana Tech in the third set. Despite trailing during the middle part of the set 14-11, EIU would go on a 5-0 run to take the lead 16-14. In that run the Panthers received a kill each from Josie Winner and Knight and back-to-back aces by Smith. After the two teams traded leads, the Panthers would begin to put the set out of reach late. With the score tied at 19-19, Winner and Sommer would earn a kill each with Brown and Runge teaming up on a block to end a 4-0 run to give the Panthers a 22-19 advantage. Eastern Illinois would score the final three points of the set to earn the third set victory 25-21.

Louisiana Tech took an early 8-3 advantage in the fourth set, and the lead proved to be too much for the Panthers to come back from. EIU would manage to cut the Louisiana Tech lead to just a single point on three different occasions, but could not quite get over that deficit as Louisiana Tech would take the fourth set 25-19 and the match 3-1.

Smith picked up her first triple-double of the season finishing with 10 kills, 21 assists, and 11 digs. Brown ended with a double-double totaling 11 kills and 10 digs.

Game Two: Memphis 3, EIU 0 (23-25, 20-25, 20-25)
The Panthers ended the first day of competition facing the host team Memphis. The Tigers won the match in straight-sets defeating the Panthers 3-0.

It was the visiting Panthers who found themselves with an early 5-2 lead on the Tigers. EIU continued to build onto their lead as a Smith ace put EIU ahead 9-6. Memphis began to find their rhythm as they went on a 6-0 run to take the lead 12-9 over the Panthers. The two teams would trade points until a block by Smith and Knight would tie the set at 23-23. Memphis would take advantage of an EIU attack error and use a Caitlin Lilly ace to win the first set 25-23.

The script flipped in the second set as Memphis jumped out to an early 6-3 lead. The Panthers were the ones to go on a big run in the second set as they could go on a 5-0 run to take an 8-6 lead capped off by another Smith and Knight block. The Panther lead would only last momentarily however, as Memphis would use a 10-2 run during the middle portion of the set to take a commanding 19-13 lead. Eastern Illinois trimmed the deficit to four points as Runge found a hole in the Tiger defense to put the score at 24-20 in favor of the home team. Memphis would put the set away on the next point using an EIU error to win the second set 25-20.

The two teams went back-and-forth to start the third set with the score being tied at 5-5, 6-6, and 7-7, before Memphis began to take control of the set. Memphis would score 11 of the next 14 points to take an 18-11 lead before an EIU timeout. The timeout worked in the Panthers favor as a Winner kill pulled EIU within four points at 19-15. The Panthers continued to trim the Memphis lead as the deficit would be only three points at 23-20, but the Tigers scored the final two points in the set to win the match following a 25-20 third set victory.

Smith recorded a double-double as she finished with 23 assists and 12 digs. Lindsey Powers led the EIU defense with 17 digs.