Eastern Illinois (3-1, 0-0 OVC) at Bradley Braves Tournament
Sept. 13-14 | Peoria, Ill.
 
Match 1: vs. South Dakota State, Friday, Sept. 14 at 12 p.m. | Live Stats
Match 2: at Bradley, Friday, Sept. 14 at 6:30 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Match 3: at Bradley, Saturday, Sept. 15 at 6:30 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
 
ON TAP: After a dominant performance at the SIU Saluki Bash last weekend, the Eastern Illinois volleyball team heads to Peoria this for a trio of matches hosted at Bradley this Friday and Saturday. The Panthers will open the weekend against South Dakota State before a pair of clashes against Bradley.

SERIES HISTORY: EIU is 2-3 all-time against South Dakota State. They last met in 2019 when the Jackrabbits prevailed 3-1 in Charleston.

Eastern has a 10-11 record against Bradley. The in-state foes have not met since the 2018 season when the Braves took the win in Peoria.

SCOUTING REPORT:

WEEKEND RECAP: The Panthers went 3-0 at the SIU Saluki Bash in Carbondale last weekend. They opened things up with a 3-1 win over Memphis as Kaitlyn Flynn racked up a team-leading 20 kills and five blocks.

They followed that up with a 3-1 over Jackson State with Catalina Rochaix posting her second double-double of the day with 41 assists and 15 digs.

EIU closed out the weekend with a 3-0 sweep of Southern Illinois that saw freshman Katie Kopshever explode for 18 kills and 12 digs.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Catalina Rochaix and Katie Kopshever both took home OVC Player of the Week awards after their performances last week.

Roxhaix handed out 120 assists (10.91 APS) in EIU's three wins in Carbondale over the weekend as the Panthers recorded a team hitting percentage of .283. She also recorded double-digit digs in each of EIU's three matches for a weekend total of 46 (4.18 DPS), posting an assist-dig double-double in each contest.

Kopshever posted a team second-best 27 kills (2.70 KPS) on a very efficient .421 hitting percentage in EIU's three matches. After recording one kill against Memphis, Kopshever got things going with eight kills against Jackson State before exploding for a team-high 18 terminations (6.00 KPS) against Southern Illinois. She also recorded 12 digs against the Salukis for a double-double.

CONFERENCE LEADERS: Ireland Hieb is second in the Ohio Valley Conference in blocks per set with an average of 1.11. Matilda Dahlstrom's 0.63 service aces per set is also second in the conference. Katie Kopshever is currently third on the OVC with a hitting percentage of .410, while Kaitlyn Flynn is fourth in the league with 3.67 kills per set. Catalina Rochaix is second fourth in assists per set with an average of 9.21.

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH: Southeast Missouri was picked to finish first in the OVC Preseason Poll with 167 total points and six first-place votes, narrowly edging out the Panthers who were selected second with 166 total points and five first-place votes. Morehead State was predicted to finish third, while Tennessee Tech and Lindenwood rounded out the top five. They were followed in order by Southern Indiana, UT Martin, SIUE, Western Illinois, Little Rock, and Tennessee State.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES: Veterans Catalina Rochaix and Kaitlyn Flynn both received preseason OVC recognition. Rochaix was named to the preseason all-conference team after taking home OVC Setter of the Year honors a season ago, while Flynn was tabbed as Eastern's Player to Watch following a year in which she was third on the team in kills (282), kills per set (2.54), and attack attempts (752).

HEAD COACH: Sara Thomas enters her fifth season as head coach at Eastern Illinois. In 2023, Thomas was named the OVC's Coach of the Year after guiding Eastern to their first OVC regular season title since 2004, and their first outright since 1998, as the Panthers posted their highest win total in over four decades. EIU also won the OVC Tournament to claim their first NCAA Tournament bid since the 2001 season. She holds a career record of 57-53 with the Panthers.

NEXT UP: EIU will remain on the road next weekend at the Alyssa Cavanaugh WKU Tournament in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They will face Austin Peay and Western Kentucky on Friday before closing out the tournament against Arkansas State on Saturday.