EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. –
Laurel Bailey and
Danielle Allen each had 14 kills on Sunday afternoon for Eastern Illinois volleyball, but it was not enough offense as the Panthers lost in three sets at SIUE.
SIUE won 25-21, 25-23, 25-19 to improve to 9-4 overall. EIU fell to 2-13 and will play its final match of the 2021 Spring Season on Monday evening at SIUE.
In the closely contested match it was critical plays that helped decide each set.
In the opener Bailey gave EIU a 20-19 lead only to see the Cougars take advantage of back-to-back attack errors by EIU to give SIUE a two point lead after Sydney Hummert tied the set at 20-20 with a kill. A service ace by Jordyn Klein gave SIUE a 23-20 edge as EIU added a kill by Bailey before the Cougars closed it out.
In the second set EIU led 19-17 with SIUE able to tie the match on a service ace by Leila Manaois and solo block by Savannah Christian. The teams would trade service errors and kills to stand tied at 23-23. Allen had the Panthers kill, her fourth of the set. SIUE closed the set with a Hummert kill and EIU attack error.
In the final set, SIUE broke a 14-14 tie with a 6-2 run as Rachel McDonald and Christian each had a pair of kills. EIU would close the gap to 22-19 on a Bailey kill before SIUE rattled off the final three points of the match.
EIU had 24 block assists in the match with
Hannah Sieg recording seven.Â
Christina Martinez Mundo led EIU with 16 digs.
Hummert had 14 kills to lead SIUE with three Cougars posting double figure digs.
