EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois volleyball team completed their third consecutive sweep on Friday evening, as they defeated SIUE 3-0 (25-16, 27-25, 25-17). The Panthers are now 23-3 overall with a 13-2 record in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Panthers came out of the gates firing on all cylinders with a convincing nine-point win in the opening set. The frame was tight early on with things knotted up at 11 apiece, but Eastern outscored SIUE 14-5 the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead.
Kaitlyn Flynn led the Panther attack with four kills, while
Natalie Mitchem and Giovana Larregui López recorded three apiece. EIU combined for a hitting percentage of .429 as
Catalina Rochaix tallied 11 assists.
EIU rode their momentum to a 12-7 lead in set two, but SIUE was able to settle in and close the gap, eventually overtaking Eastern 23-22. However, the Panthers weathered the storm and took the set behind three consecutive Larregui López kills to close things out. Larregui López and Mitchem both had five kills in the set, with Mitchem maintaining a strong .438 hitting percentage through the first two frames.
EIU fell behind 12-8 in set three, but rallied to overcome the deficit, finishing the match out with eight unanswered points to remain unbeaten on the road this season. Giovana Larregui López and
Kaitlyn Flynn led the Eastern offense with four kills each is the set.
Giovana Larregui López led the match in total points (16) and kills (12) as she recorded 4.0 kills per set.
Natalie Mitchem and
Kaitlyn Flynn also reached double digit kills with 10 apiece. Mitchem finished the match with a .375 hitting percentage.
Catalina Rochaix recorded her eighth double-double of the season as she handed out 32 assists (10.67 APS) and tallied 10 digs. She also got on the scoreboard with four kills and a service ace.
Defensively,
Christina Martinez Mundo led the match with 15 digs (5.0 DPS), while
Julia Stanev and
Natalie Mitchem both recorded five blocks.
The Panthers and Cougars will do it again on Saturday, in what will be EIU's final road match of the regular season. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. inside First Community Arena.
