Eastern Illinois (3-4, 0-0 OVC) at Alyssa Cavanaugh WKU Tournament
Sept. 20-21 | Bowling Green, Ky.
 
Match 1: vs. Austin Peay, Friday, Sept. 20^th at 1 p.m. 
Match 2: at Western Kentucky, Friday, Sept. 20^th at 7 p.m. | Watch 
Match 3: vs. Arkansas State, Saturday, Spt. 21^st at 11 a.m. 

ON TAP: The Eastern Illinois volleyball team wraps up non-conference play this weekend with a trip to the Alyssa Cavanaugh WKU Tournament in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Panthers are set to play three matches over two days against Austin Peay, Western Kentucky, and Arkansas State.

SERIES HISTORY: EIU is 23-27 all-time against Austin Peay, with the Governors taking the last matchup 3-1 in Charleston. This will be the first time the two teams have met since Peay left the Ohio Valley Conference.

Friday night's showdown with Western Kentucky will be the first ever meeting between the Panthers and Hilltoppers.

Eastern holds a 4-2 series record against Arkansas State. The Panthers prevailed 3-0 against the Red Wolves last season.

SCOUTING REPORT:

WEEK IN REVIEW: The Panthers suffered a trio of tough losses last weekend, falling 3-0 to South Dakota State before a pair of 3-2 defeats against Bradley.
Freshman Karli Mann had a strong showing with 25 kills and seven blocks on the weekend.

Sylvia Hasz recorded double-doubles in both matches against Bradley with 35 assists and 13 digs on Friday and 38 assists and 10 digs on Saturday.

Julia Stanev was a force at the net, posting 10 total blocks, including seven (1.4 BPS) against Bradley on Saturday.

CONFERENCE LEADERS: Ireland Hieb tops the Ohio Valley Conference in hitting percentage with an average of .396 and is second in the conference with 1.19 blocks per set. Emma Schroeder and Julia Stanev are also top 10 in blocks per set with averages of 0.90 and 0.82 respectively.

Catalina Rochaix is third in the league with 9.13 assists per set, while Kaitlyn Flynn's 2.90 kills per set average is fifth best in the OVC.

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 opens up OVC play next weekend at Lindenwood. Match one is set for Friday, September 27^th at 6 p.m. followed by match two at Lindenwood on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Panthers will return home to face Southern Indiana on October 3^rd and 4^th.