Eastern Illinois (0-6) vs Austin Peay (4-2)
Sunday, February 28
7 pm at First Mid Court at Lantz Arena (Charleston, Ill.)
Live Stats | Watch on ESPN+
Eastern Illinois vs Austin Peay
Monday, March 1
4 pm at First Mid Court at Lantz Arena (Charleston, Ill.)
Live Stats | Watch on ESPN+
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois returns home to host Austin Peay as the Panthers will play four straight at First Mid Court at Lantz Arena. EIU lost both of its matches last weekend falling 3-0 in both contests at UT Martin. EIU fell to 0-6 on the season. Austin Peay enters the weekend at 4-2 after the Governors lost both matches last weekend to Morehead State, falling 3-0 in both. On the year APSU has played to a 3-0 count in all six of their matches.
MICHAEL WITH A DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Kylie Michael posted a double-double for the Panthers in their opening match at UT Martin and fell just short of posting a second one on Monday. In the opener Michael had 14 kills and 11 digs while hitting .303 in the match. On Monday she finished with nine kills and nine digs. She is currently the team leader with 51 digs and fourth on the squad with 27 digs.
HIEB AMONG OVC LEADERS IN ACES: Ireland Hieb added another service ace to her season total as she ranks seventh in the OVC in service aces per set this season. Hieb opened the year with six aces against Morehead State which tied for the ninth most in a match in school history. She has seven total aces for the year adding 28 kills, 18 digs and two blocks to her season total.
ADDING TO THE ACES: Eastern Illinois added eight service aces to its season total last weekend at UT Martin.
Kylie Michael led the Panthers with four aces for the weekend picking up two in each match. As a team EIU is fifth in the OVC with 1.3 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 26 service aces this season with nine 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 1,631 assists and passed Gretchen Braker (1982-84) on the career list last weekend at UT Martin. Chandler is ninth in the OVC this season averaging 8.45 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 has 964 digs as she is looking to become the 29th EIU player with 1,000 career digs. Bailey also has 829 kills. 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 Austin Peay will be meeting for the 49th and 50th times in school history this weekend with the Governors holding a slight 25-23 all-time series lead. Austin Peay has won eight matches in a row sweeping the season series in each of the last four years. EIU's last win over APSU was on Oct. 23, 2015 when EIU collected a 3-1 win. That win wrapped up what had been a seven match win streak by EIU over Austin Peay.
NEXT UP: Eastern Illinois remains at home next weekend as the Panthers will host Tennessee State on March 7 & 8 at First Mid Court at Lantz Arena.
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.
