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Eastern Illinois (5-5, 0-0 OVC) vs.Illinois (4-3, 0-0 Big Ten)
Wednesday, Sept. 14
Charleston, Ill. | Lantz Arena
7:00 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch

Match Notes

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois comes home to First Mid Court in Lantz Arena to play the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois, the first meeting between the two since the 2005 season. Panthers are coming off a 3-1 week last weekend including three straight wins at the Geri Polvino Invitational in Richmond, Ky.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The Panthers are currently trailing Illinois in the all-time series 2-11. EIU and Illinois have not played since 2005 when the Illini defeated Eastern 3-2 at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill. Eastern Illinois have lost 10 straight matches in the series, dating back to the 1983 season when EIU won 3-1 in Champaign. 

Illinois has not visited Charleston since the 1986 season on Sept. 9 when EIU hosted the Illini and the Nittany Lions of Penn State University. The Panthers have only ever hosted two ranked teams in the program's history (Illinois and Penn State in 1986). EIU is 0-12 all-time against ranked opponents.

WEEKEND RECAP: EIU bounced back after a 0-3 loss to Western Illinois at home last Tuesday with three straight wins at the Geri Polvino Invitational in Richmond, Ky. hosted by Eastern Kentucky. The Panthers started with a five set win against Purdue Fort Wayne Friday morning. EIU hit a season best .268 against the Mastodons. Kaitlyn Flynn posted 19 kills in the win.

Eastern followed that match with a 3-0 sweep of Saint Francis (Pa.) later on during Friday afternoon. Christina Martinez Muno was flying on defense with 22 digs, and Flynn stayed hot with a match-high 15 kills.

The Panthers ended the weekend with a 3-1 win over the host team, Eastern Kentucky. Flynn dominated during the final match of the invitational with a career best 29 kills. She was voted as the Invitational MVP. Martinez Mundo was also selected to the All-Tournament team which was voted on by the coaches.

OVC OFFENSIVE POTW: After a strong performance last weekend, Flynn was voted as the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week. After missing the first two weeks of the season, Flynn came back with a total of 66 kills this past week in four matches. In three matches she posted at least 15 kills including a career high 29 kills against Eastern Kentucky.

Flynn averaged 4.71 kills per set in 14 total sets. She was able to collect five service along with 30 digs including 15 against EKU for her first double-double of the season. She was also named the tournament most valuable player for her performance.

OVC LEADERS: Christina Martinez Mundo drops one spot this past weekend in terms of digs per set with an average of 5.47 d/s. She is only behind Tara Beilsmith (SEMO) in the rankings. She is also second in the OVC in total digs with 208. Last week Mundo posted 91 total digs in four matches.

In the NCAA, Martinez Mundo is fourth in total digs and eighth in digs per set. EIU ranks 50th in the NCAA in digs per set with 15.68. They also rank second in the OVC in digs per set, but lead the conference in total digs with 596.

Giovana Larregui Lopez still ranks second in the OVC in kills per set with 3.50. She also ranks 10th in the OVC in digs per set with 3.08. In the NCAA, Larregui Lopez is 27th in attacks per set with 11.46.

Eastern Illinois as a team is ranked first in opponent hitting percentage in the conference with a .177. They have given up 205 errors to opponents while hitting, second in the OVC. This also ranks 84th in the country. 

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 ILLINI: Illinois is currently 4-3 this season while being ranked No.25 in the AVCA coaches poll. The Illini have played two ranked teams this season (No. 9 Georgia Tech and No.14 Washington). This past weekend Illinois went 3-0 at the Dayton Invitational with wins over Missouri State, Villanova and Dayton.

Raina Terry leads the Fighting Illini offense with 87 kills and a average of 3.63 kills per set. Jessica Nunge also has 70 kills in seven matches. Diana Brown has a total of 247 assists this season which is good for 41st in the country in assists per set. Illinois is coached by six year head coach Chris Tamas.

UP NEXT: Eastern Illinois will play their final non-conference matches this weekend when they travel to Toledo, Ohio to pay in the Toledo Challenge. EIU will face Toledo and Duquesne starting on Friday, Sept. 16.
 
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.