COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Illinois volleyball team won their opening match against Tennessee Tech 3-2 on Friday night in an exciting back-and-forth contest. It was the Panthers' first win against the Golden Eagles since the 2019 season, breaking a six-game skid against the conference foe.
EIU trailed for nearly the entire opening set, falling behind 3-2 early and never being able to recapture the lead, despite threatening on a couple of occasions. Tennessee Tech was able to expand their lead in the second half of the set on their way to a comfortable five-point win. Giovana Larregui López had six kills and two blocks to lead the Panthers' scoring in the set.
Eastern responded in set two, taking a 7-6 lead and never looking back. The Panthers closed out the set on a 5-0 run, with the last three points being Larregui López kills. She had seven total in the set, while
Natalie Mitchem and
Kaitlyn Flynn both recorded three kills.
The Panthers dug themselves in to a deep hole in set three, falling behind 15-8 before going on a 7-0 run to reel it back to even. The Golden Eagles responded with a short 4-0 run of their own, but the Panthers once again fought back, twice coming within one point of Tech down the stretch. However, they could not quite break through and TTU went up 2-1. Larregui López stayed hot with six kills in the set, while Mitchem contributed five of her own.
Catalina Rochaix had a big set with 14 assists.
EIU dominated in the fourth, leading by as many as 13 and ultimately taking the set by a convincing 11-point margin. Mitchem kick started the Panther offense with five early kills, including three straight to open the set.
Kate Dean also had a strong set with four kills and two blocks, while Rochaix again totaled 14 assists.Â
Eastern got out to an early lead in the deciding set and never fell behind, despite TTU knotting the score on three separate occasions. The Panthers closed out the match on a 6-0 run that featured three
Natalie Mitchem kills, as she led EIU with five in the set.
Giovana Larregui López had a huge night for Big Blue with 24 kills on a .400 hitting percentage. She also added three blocks and a service ace to bring her point total to match-high 27.5. Defensively, she tallied 13 digs to secure her eighth double-double of the season.
Natalie Mitchem also had a very impressive outing, as she stacked up 20 kills on a sizzling .528 hitting percentage. She also had five blocks on the night to bring her scoring total to 22.5 points.
Kate Dean was also in double-digit kills with 11 on a .400 hitting percentage and matched Mitchem with five blocks.
Catalina Rochaix kept the EIU offense in rhythm with 58 assists as the Panthers finished the match with a team hitting percentage of .366. She just missed a double-double with nine digs.
The Panthers had three players in double-digit digs, led by libero
Christina Martinez Mundo with 18. She was followed by Larregui Lopez (13) and
Laura Paniagua with 10.
Julia Stanev was the night's leader in blocks with seven.
The victory brings Eastern's OVC record to 8-1 and their overall record to 18-2.
They will be back in action Saturday night for round two in Cookeville. The match is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Hooper Eblen Center.Â
