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Eastern Illinois (5-6, 0-0 OVC) at Toledo (5-4, 0-0 MAC)
Friday, Sept. 16
Toledo, Ohio | Savage Arena
5:00 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch

Eastern Illinois vs. Duquesne (2-8, 0-0 A-10)
Saturday, Sept. 17
Toledo, Ohio | Savage Arena
12:30 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch

Match Notes

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois travels to Toledo, Ohio for their final non-conference matches of the season before returning home to Lantz Arena for their first Ohio Valley Conference matches of the season against SIUE. This weekend, EIU will play Toledo on Friday at 5 p.m. and Duquesne on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. All matches are on CST.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The Panthers are currently trailing the all-time series against Toledo 2-4. They last met during the 2015 season at the DePaul Invitational when EIU won in five sets. EIU won the first meeting all-time back in 1986 with a 3-0 victory. 

EIU has split the all-time series 1-1 with Duquesne. They first met during the 1999 season in Milwaukee where the Panthers won the first ever meeting in three sets. Duquesne bounced back during the 2012 season and took the second meeting 3-0. Both teams look to take the series lead in Toledo.

ILLINOIS RECAP: The Panthers battled the Fighting Illini of Illinois in Lantz Arena Wednesday night where EIU dropped a tough match in three sets. EIU had not played Illinois since 2005, and they had not played in Lantz Arena since the 1995 season.

After a 15-25 first set loss, EIU held a 20-15 advantage in the second but fell short with a 23-25 loss. The Panthers would also score 22 points in the third after being down 17-10. Kaitlyn Flynn led the Panthers on offense with nine kills and seven digs.

Christina Martinez Mundo also collected 17 digs to led EIU on the defensive side while also making multiple diving saves to keep the ball alive. Ireland Hieb and Annika Black were especially dominate on defense with Hieb collecting eight blocks and Black collected five. The duo combined for four blocks in the second set alone.

The Panthers also broke the attendance record at a volleyball match with a crowd of 2,075 fans. This broke the record set back in the 2007 season (2,004).

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 first in the OVC in total digs with 225. 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 ROCKETS: Toledo is currently 5-4 on the season and will be hosting their first home matches of the season this weekend. Last week, the Rockets went 1-2 with a win against Northern Kentucky and two loses against No. 21 Western Kentucky and former OVC opponent Austin Peay.

Taylor Alt currently leads Toledo in total kills with 118 and an average of 3.81 per set. She has also collected 64 digs on the season which is good or fourth on the team. Payton Morman has 299 assists for the Rockets with an average of 9.65 per set. This ranks 94th in the country. Toledo is coached by fifth year head coach Jason Oliver.

SCOUTING THE DUKES: Duquesne is currently 2-8 on the season while going 1-2 last week. The Dukes lone win was against current OVC opponent Southern Indiana at the Chattanooga Classic in Tennessee. Duquesne also lost a match earlier this season to Saint Francis who EIU defeated 3-0 last weekend.

The Dukes are led by Carsyn Henschen on offense with 122 kills with an average of 3.05 per set. Morgan Kelly has also helped the Dukes with 85 kills. Ariel Helm leads the team in total blocks with 41.0, seven of them being solo. Duquesne is coached by Steve Opperman who is in his 25th season as head coach. He has a career 343 wins.

UP NEXT: Eastern Illinois will play their first OVC matches of the season next weekend when they host SIUE in Lantz Arena starting on Friday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. Livestats and ESPN+ will be provided.
 
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.