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• Eastern Illinois volleyball will begin its 2019 season at home where they are hosting the EIU Panther Invitational sponsored by the Holiday Inn Express starting this Friday Aug 30 and continuing Saturday Aug 31. 

• The Panthers are slated for three matches in the two-day invite. EIU will open the season facing South Dakota State on Friday at 6 p.m. The Panthers will return on Saturday at 11 a.m. to face Memphis. Later that night they have the final match of the tournament at 6 p.m. facing off against Drake.

• Second-year head coach Julie Allen and the rest of the Panthers will look to build off of a 10-21 record last season.

• This weekend's tournament marks the first of four consecutive weekend tournaments for the Panthers in the 2019 season. Following this weekend's action, the Panthers will head to Central Michigan for the Chippewa Invitational.

 
2019 EIU PANTHER INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
... all times central

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30
Memphis vs Drake… 12 p.m.
South Dakota State vs Memphis… 3 p.m.
EIU vs South Dakota State… 6 p.m.
 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31
EIU vs. Memphis… 11 a.m.
Drake vs South Dakota State… 2 p.m.
EIU vs Drake… 6 p.m.

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YOUNG BUT EXPERIENCED
• The Eastern Illinois volleyball team goes into the 2019 season with only four senior players on the roster and only three juniors. The Panthers roster consists of eleven players listed either at the freshman or sophomore level.
 
• In the exhibition match against Saint Louis freshman Ireland Hieb lead the team in kills with 9. Behind her was junior Laurel Bailey and senior Katie Sommer with seven kills each. 

• Sophomore Bailey Chandler lead the team in assists with 26 and added two kills in her campaign against Saint Louis. 

NEW TO THE PROGRAM
• Six members of the 2019 roster will be suiting up in a Panther uniform for the first time in their career. The new freshmen class includes Ireland Hieb(OH), Kristen Jankowski (S), Mackenzie Duvall(MB), Keelan Bell (MB), Joelle LaForce (MB), and Sarah Paluch(DS/L).

SCOUTING THE EIU PANTHER INVITE
•The Panthers will open with SDSU. The teams have split four previous meetings. Eastern Illinois holds the series lead against both Drake (9-8) and Memphis (4-3).
 
• Day one opponent South Dakota State finished the 2018 season with a record of 6-23 and 3-13 in the Summit League. The Jackrabbits return Ashlynn Smith, who ranked second on the team in attacks/blocks.

• EIU's second match of the Panther Invite will have the Panthers facing Memphis who finished last season with a record of 11-19 and 4-14 in the American Athletic Conference. Memphis returns their top attacker Hannah Flowers who had 373 kills last season.

• In EIU's weekend finale, they will be taking on Drake. The Bulldogs finished last season with a record of 21-15 and 8-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference Drake is returning the second-best blocker from last year in Elle Tubbs who posted 117 blockers.

UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS
• Following this weekend's EIU Panther Invitational, the Panthers will head to Central Michigan for the Chippewa Invitational on Sept. 6-7.