Eastern Illinois (0-4) at UT Martin (1-1)
Sunday, February 21
6 pm at Skyhawk Fieldhouse (Martin, Tenn.)
Live Stats |
Eastern Illinois at UT Martin
Monday, February 22
2:15 pm at Skyhawk Fieldhouse (Martin, Tenn.)
Live Stats | Watch on ESPN+
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois volleyball returns to the road for a pair of weekend matches at UT Martin. The Panthers fell to 0-4 on the year after losing 3-1 and 3-0 at Tennessee Tech last Sunday as the two schools played a pair of Sunday matches due to weather issues in the Mid-South. Those same weather issues forced the postponement of UT Martin's matches with Belmont as UTM enters at 1-1 after splitting its opening weekend series with Eastern Kentucky.
SILLMON SOLID ON THE ATTACK: Junior college transfer
Kameryn Sillmon had her most extensive playing time in the opening match at Tennessee Tech last weekend. In the match Sillmon finished with nine kills on 15 attacks with no errors for a .600 hitting percentage. In the night cap she added two kills on ten attacks with two errors. For the season Sillmon ranks fifth in the OVC in attack percentage at .360.
ALLEN AMONG OVC BLOCK LEADERS: Danielle Allen had four blocks (one solo, 3 assisted) in the Panthers second match at Tennessee Tech last weekend and posted five total blocks for the weekend. She currently ranks tied for 10th in the OVC in blocks per set at 0.92 with 11 total blocks for the season.
ADDING TO THE ACES: Eastern Illinois added seven service aces to its season total last weekend at Tennessee Tech.
Elisavet Papageorgiou led the Panthers with three service aces in the evening match with all three coming on consecutive serves. As a team EIU is sixth in the OVC with 1.29 service aces per set. In the season opener against Morehead State,
Ireland Hieb had six aces in the match which was tied for ninth most in a match in school history. EIU has a total of 18 service aces this season with eight different players recording at least one ace this season.
CHANDLER JOINS EIU ASSISTS CLUB: Junior setter
Bailey Chandler has joined the EIU 1,500 assist club as she became the 12th player in school history with 1,500 or more assists. Chandler has 1,575 assists and needs six assists to move up one spot and pass Gretchen Braker (1982-84) on the career list. Chandler is eighth in the OVC this season averaging 8.07 assists per set.
BAILEY CHASING 1,000 DIGS: Laurel Bailey continues her chase of the 1,000 club in digs and kills during her senior season. Bailey had ten digs last weekend against Tennessee Tech moving her career total to 960. She is looking to become the 29th EIU player with 1,000 career digs. Bailey had 16 kills over the weekend moving her career total to 825. She would become the 18th member of the 1,000 kill club. If Bailey can reach 1,000 in both categories she would be only the 13th player with 1,000 in both kills and digs.
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois and UT Martin will be meeting for 51st and 52nd time this weekend in Martin, Tenn. The Panthers hold a 31-19 all-time series lead. UT Martin swept both matches last season winning both by a 3-0 score. EIU's last win over UT Martin was a 3-2 victory on Nov. 2, 2018. Prior to last year's loss at UT Martin, the Panthers had won six straight matches at UT Martin.
NEXT UP: After four straight matches on the road, Eastern Illinois returns home to First Mid Court at Lantz Arena to host four straight. The Panthers host Austin Peay on Feb. 28 and March 1 with Tennessee State coming to Charleston on March 7 & 8.
HEAD COACH: Sara Thomas is in her first season as the head coach at Eastern Illinois. Hired in December of 2019, Thomas came to EIU after working as an assistant coach at Missouri State for two seasons. Prior to entering the collegiate coaching ranks, Thomas was a successful high school coach in the St. Louis Metro area winning the IHSA Class 3A State Championship in 2017 with a 41-1 record at Belleville Althoff Catholic HS. Thomas is a 2009 graduate of Missouri State where she earned first team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors and was the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2007. She is assisted by
Manolo Concepcion,
Haley Bilbruck and Taylor Smith.
OVC SCHEDULE: The Ohio Valley Conference will play an adjusted schedule this spring that will feature 16 conference matches with the top four teams advancing to the OVC Tournament the first weekend in April with the chance to earn the OVC's automatic bid to this year's NCAA Tournament. In the adjusted format each school will play the same opponent in back-to-back matches on Sunday and Monday with four home weekends and four road weekends. Under the adjusted format teams will not play all schools in the conference. This spring EIU will host Morehead State, Austin Peay, Southeast Missouri and Tennessee State. The Panthers will be on the road at Tennessee Tech, UT Martin, Murray State and SIUE. EIU will not face Belmont, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State during the regular season.
