CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois volleyball team (9-19, 5-13 OVC) closed out their season on a high note with an emphatic 3-1 victory over Tennessee State (10-21, 6-12 OVC) on Wednesday. Each of the four members of EIU's graduating class put together strong showings. The final set scores were 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, and 25-15.

The opening set was tight to start off, with Eastern gaining a 16-15 advantage midway through the frame. However, Tennessee State scored seven straight points to take a firm 22-16 lead late. The Panthers were unfazed though, and outscored the Tigers 9-1 down the stretch to steal the set and take a 1-0 match lead. Kaitlyn Flynn led the way with four kills in the set while the Panthers combined for 5.0 team blocks, with Flynn and Julia Stanev posting three rejections apiece.

EIU fell behind early in set two, but after going ahead 8-7, they never lost their advantage as they staved off any TSU attempts at a rally to go up two sets to none in the match. Kaitlyn Flynn kept things going with six more kills and another block in the set.

Tennessee State rebounded in the third set and erased a four-point Panthers lead to make the score 2-1. However, the Panthers refused to let TSU gain any more momentum and left no room for doubt in the fourth set as they pounced out to an early lead, which they extended to as many as 11 points on their way to securing the match.

Kaitlyn Flynn finished off her senior season with an outstanding performance, posting a double-double with a team-high 13 kills and 11 digs while adding six blocks.

She was followed by Lilli Amettis with nine kills and Matilda Dahlström and Julia Stanev with eight terminations. Dahlström and Stanev also matched Flynn with six blocks apiece.

Ireland Hieb led the Panthers with eight blocks in the final match of her EIU career as Eastern out-blocked TSU 15.0-7.0.

Catalina Rochaix led the Panthers with 23 assists, with graduate student Paige Gardella following closely with 21 assists as EIU hit .216 as a team.

Meanwhile, senior Laura Paniagua led the team with 13 digs.