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Eastern Illinois (10-8, 4-1 OVC) at SEMO (8-8, 3-1 OVC)
Friday, Oct. 7
Cape Girardeau, Mo. | Houck Field House
6:00 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch

Eastern Illinois at SEMO
Saturday, Oct. 8
Cape Girardeau, Mo. | Houck Field House
7:00 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch

Match Notes

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois will travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo. this weekend for their first Ohio Valley Conference away weekend matches of the season. EIU has only played one road OVC match this season against Southern Indiana during the midweek. EIU will play on Friday, Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The Panthers are currently losing the all-time series against the Redhawks of SEMO 11-30. Southeast Missouri have won the past 10 meetings against Eastern Illinois dating back to November 11, 2017. Last season, SEMO defeated EIU three times including a 3-0 sweep in the OVC Tournament held in Cape Girardeau.

The first meeting was held during the 2000 season when SEMO defeated the Panthers in Charleston, Ill. Eastern Illinois' last win came during the 2017 season when the Panthers had swept the Redhawks in Lantz Arena.

LITTLE ROCK RECAP: Eastern Illinois swept Little Rock twice last weekend in Lantz Arena improving their record to 4-1 in the conference. The Panthers were led by Kaitlyn Flynn in an offensive frenzy who posted a .335 hitting percentage on the weekend.

During the first match against the Trojans, EIU came out swinging at the net with a total of 44 kills on a .347 hitting percentage which was a team high this season and the fifth highest by any OVC team in a match this year. Panther limited their errors in the first matchup with only 11 on 95 attempts while the Trojans were forced in 19 errors with on a .115 hitting percentage.

Flynn led all attackers in match one with a match high 18 kills on 33 attempts for a season high hitting percentage of .485. Flynn scored the last four points in the final set to give EIU their third OVC win of the season. She also recorded two block assists and seven digs on defense in the first meeting. 

Defense was the name of the game in the second matchup last Saturday. EIU's Christina Martinez Mundo led all players with 12 digs. Eight different Panthers recorded a dig with five of them recording at least four. The team totaled 41 digs in the second match compared to the Trojan's 27.

The Panthers moved to 4-1 on the season in the OVC last weekend, and moved them into a tie for first place. Their record is the best five match start to conference play since the 2005 season when EIU went 5-0 to being OVC play.

OVC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Kaitlyn Flynn and Catalina Rochaix were both selected as OVC Players of the Week after their performances against Southern Indiana and Little Rock. This marked the second offensive player of the week win for Flynn and is the only player in the OVC to win that award twice this season.

Rochaix became the third EIU Panther to win an OVC player of the week and the first to win as a setter. She posted 78 assists last week for an average of 7.80 per set. Rochaix also manged a .473 assist percentage in 165 attempts. She is the first setter since Summerlyn Smith during the third week of the season last year to win this award.

Flynn totaled 59 kills last week in three matches. In a 3-1 victory against Southern Indiana last Tuesday, Flynn made the most of her opportunities by punching down 27 kills against the Screaming Eagles. This marked her second most kills on the season and the second most by an OVC player this season. She also hit .353 against USI.

In the weekend series against the Trojans of Little Rock, Flynn led the team in both matches with 18 and 14 kills. She has six straight matches with at least 12 kills and has nine total matches with double-digit kills. Flynn was second on the team in hitting percentage last week with a .396 (min. 15 attempts). Last week she posted 5.90 kills per set.

100 KILL CLUB: Flynn, Larregui Lopez, and Ella Collins have been active on the offensive end for the Panthers while all three have hit for over 100 kills this season. Flynn leads the group with 185 kills with Larregui Lopez recording 159 and Collins hitting 105.

Over the past weekend against Little Rock, Flynn led all hitters on the Panthers with 32 kills while Larregui Lopez had 15. All three Panthers are averaging over 2.50 kills per set with Flynn leading the way with 4.40, Lopez with 3.38 and Collins with 2.56.  As a team, EIU is posting 12.38 kills per set which is third in the OVC.

OVC LEADERS: Christina Martinez Mundo holds the number one spot in the OVC in digs per set with an average of 5.47. She also lead the league in total number of digs with 361 on the season so far.

In the NCAA, Mundo ranks third in total digs and eighth in digs per set. Eastern as a team ranks 60th in digs per set with an average of 15.42. They are third overall in the OVC in digs per set but are first in the conference in total digs with 1018.

Kaitlyn Flynn stays at the top of the OVC rankings after her strong performance against USI and Little Rock. She sits atop the conference in kills per set with an average of 4.30 kills per set. In the NCAA she ranks 21st in that category.

Giovana Larregui Lopez moves to third in kills per set just behind her teammate Flynn with an average of 3.38 kills per set. Catalina Rochaix also makes an appearance on the list in assists with an average of 5.80 per set which is ninth in the OVC.

Lilli Amettis stays in the top ten in hitting percentage in the OVC. She ranks tenth with a PCT of .264. Amettis has 84 kills on the season which is fourth on the team with only 28 errors on 212 attacks. Eastern Illinois ranks third in the conference in opponent hitting percentage while only giving up a percentage of .190. 

OVC ADDS THREE NEW TEAMS: The Panthers will have new competition this year in the conference as Arkansas Little Rock, Lindenwood, and Southern Indiana joined the OVC at the start of the 2022-23 league year. Lindenwood and Southern Indiana make the jump from Division II to Division I while Little Rock joins after playing in the Sun Belt. Belmont, Austin Peay, and Murray State all joined new conferences after the 2021-22 season.

SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS: Southeast Missouri is currently 8-8 and 3-1 in the OVC after going 1-1 against UT Martin this past weekend. Over their non-conference schedule, the Trojans battled Illinois State and Southern Illinois.

SEMO's defense is led by Tara Beilsmith who has 357 digs on the season which is second behind Martinez Mundo. She currently leads the conference in digs per set with 5.85. She is fourth in the nation in digs per set and fifth in the NCAA in total digs.

Zoey Beasley is their leading offensive attacker with 189 kills on the season. She ranks fourth in the OVC with an average of 3.11 kills per set. Izzy Lukens also has 20 service aces this season with an average of 0.35 per set (10th in the OVC).

SEMO is coached by 12th year head coach Julie Yankus who has a 105-77 record in OVC play. Last season, she led the Redhawks to an OVC Championship including a first round win against the Panthers.

UP NEXT: Eastern Illinois will return home to Lantz Arena next Friday for a double-header against the Skyhawks of UT Martin. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
HEAD COACH: Sara Thomas enters her third season as the head coach at Eastern Illinois University. Last season, Thomas took her team to the OVC Tournament for the first time since the 2017 season. EIU finished with a 11-18 record last season with a 4-14 OVC record. Thomas is assisted by Manolo Concepcion and Ignacio Valdemoros. The Panthers look to build off their success last season.