Eastern Illinois (0-5, 0-4 OVC) vs. McKendree (0-9)
Tuesday, Mar. 28, 1:00 p.m. CT
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois beach volleyball returns home to Sister City Park as they host the McKendree Bearcats for a midweek matchup. This marks the first of two home meets that the Panthers will have this week (Sunday, April 2 vs. Lindenwood).
EIU will start their dual meet at 1:00 p.m. CT with the No. 5 pairing on court one. Eastern looks to pick up their first win in program history.
OVC PRESEASON STANDINGS: UT Martin was selected to finish first in the OVC after earning 10 of the 12 first-place votes by head coaches and communication directors. The Skyhawks won their first ever OVC Championship last season after going 17-9 with a 6-2 OVC record.
Chattanooga finished second in the voting after securing two first-place votes. Morehead State was picked to finish just in front of the Panthers at three while first-year programs Tennessee Tech and Lindenwood where picked to finish fifth and sixth respectively.
Eastern Illinois was selected to finish fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference during the 2023 Beach Volleyball season. The Panthers finished in fifth last season during their inaugural season.
LAST TIME OUT: Beach Volleyball opened up conference play last weekend when they traveled to their first of two Ohio Valley Conference Weekends of the season. The Panthers battled tough for all four matches over the weekend.
During a tough 4-1 loss in their opening match against first-year program Tennessee Tech,
Tori Mohesky and
Giovana Larregui Lopez won the lone dual in three sets with scores of 21-19, 19-21, and 15-13.
Ella Collins and
Emily Wilcox also went to three sets at the number five spot (6-21, 23-21, 6-15).
In their final match against the host team Chattanooga, EIU was able to send three of the five duals to three sets.
Kaitlyn Flynn and
Sylvia Hasz won their No. 2 pairing with score of 21-19, 16-21 and 15-13.
Collins and Wilcox also took their dual at the number five spot to three sets with scores of 21-16, 14-21 and 2-15. Giovana Lareegui Lopez and
Lilli Amettis also pushed their number three pairing to three sets with scores of 22-20, 12-21 and 2-15.
UP NEXT: Eastern Illinois will be back at home this weekend on Sunday, Apr. 2 at 1:00 p.m. vs. OVC newcomer Lindenwood. This marks the final home dual meet of the season for EIU before ending their season with conference matches at the second OVC Weekend.
HEAD COACH: Sara Thomas enters her first season as the beach volleyball head coach at Eastern Illinois University. She was previously an assistant for beach volleyball last season. Thomas is the head indoor volleyball coach in her third season at EIU. She finished last season with a 16-16 record on her way to the fourth seed in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. EIU posted their most wins in a season since 2015. Thomas also coached the third OVC Player of the Year in Eastern Illinois with newcomer
Giovana Larregui Lopez. Lopez was also the second player in EIU history to earn AVCA All-American honorable mention.
Kaitlyn Flynn along with Lopez were selected to the first team All-OVC team with libero
Christina Martinez Mundo also earning second team.Thomas is assisted by
Ignacio Valdemoros.
