Box Score
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Eastern Illinois volleyball team went down in straight sets (21-25, 21-25, 22-25) on Friday night in an Ohio Valley Conference match at Southeast Missouri. The Panthers will be back in action tomorrow at UT Martin for another OVC contest. The loss drops the Panthers record to 3-15 (0-3 OVC).
Eastern Illinois worked a comfortable lead in the first set as back-to-back kills from
Abby Knight and
Allie Hueston to give the Panthers a 10-4 advantage. SEMO stormed back shortly after, rolling off five-straight points to cut the EIU lead to a point and forced the Panthers to take a timeout. The timeout broke the SEMO rhythm momentarily as the Panthers scored the next two points on a kill by
Maria Brown and a service ace from
Gina Furlin. SEMO knotted the score at 15-15 and took the lead on the next play. The two teams went back-and-forth before another Knight kill put the Panthers in front 20-19. Â SEMO ended the first set scoring six of the final seven points to take the first game 25-21.
After SEMO scored the first three points to start the second set, Eastern Illinois responded by scoring the next four to take a 4-3 lead. The two teams would exchange leads, until a kill by SEMO's Karissa Gearring gave the Readhawks the lead at 11-10. SEMO extended their lead to 19-12 after a 6-0 run. Hueston sparked an EIU comeback late in the set as she totaled a kill and combined on a block with
Taylor Smith to cut the SEMO lead to 21-18. SEMO would hold the lead the rest of the way and pick up the second set victory 25-21 following a kill by Nzingha Clarke.
SEMO came out of the break strong as the Panthers found themselves behind 4-0 to start the third set. Following a SEMO error and an ace by
Josie Winner, the Panthers managed to cut the deficit in half. It would not take long however for SEMO to find their rhythm again. SEMO extended their lead to 13-4 over the Panthers. The Panthers went on a run of their own, scoring six out of the next seven points to trim the SEMO lead to 14-10. With SEMO just one point away from clinching the three-set match; the Panthers went on one final run. Down 24-16, EIU went on a 6-0 run to pull within two points at 24-22. SEMO ended the Panthers comeback bid on the next play however as a Madeline Grimm kill gave the Redhawks a 25-22 decision in the third set.
Winner finished the match with eight kills to lead the EIU offense. Hueston led the Panthers net defense as she totaled seven blocks with Smith adding six.
Lindsey Powers posted 16 digs in the match.
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