Eastern Illinois (0-4, 0-4 OVC) at Lindenwood (8-9, 1-3 OVC)
Sat., March 29th | 2 p.m. | St. Charles, Mo.
 
ON TAP: The Eastern Illinois beach volleyball team heads to St. Charles for the first half of a home-and-home series against Lindenwood on Saturday. The action is set to get underway at 2 p.m. at Evans Courts.

SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are 1-3 all-time against the Lions. In their first meeting in 2023, EIU defeated Lindenwood 3-2 at Sister City Park to secure the program's first ever win. 

LINDENWOOD: LU enters this weekend with an overall record of 8-9, including a 1-3 mark in OVC play after defeating Tennessee Tech at the OVC Weekend in Martin.

Abby Jacobs and Annalie McWhorter lead the Lions with an 8-4 record as the No. 2 pair.

LAST TIME OUT: The Panthers opened the 2025 season with four OVC matches in Martin last weekend.

Eastern fell 0-5 against Morehead State, UT Martin, and Chattanooga before suffering a narrow 2-3 defeat against Tennessee Tech in the weekend finale.

Against the Golden Eagles, No. 5 pair Tori Mohesky and Sylvia Hasz picked up EIU's first point of the season with a straight set win (21-12, 21-13) to open the match.

No. 4 duo Lilli Amettis and Julia Udell were responsible for the Panthers' second point with another straight set win (21-13, 21-21).

PRESEASON POLL: The Ohio Valley Conference released its preseason poll for beach volleyball in in February with Eastern Illinois selected sixth. Chattanooga was picked to finish first with 10 first-place votes, followed by UT Martin with two first-place votes.

PLAYER TO WATCH: Senior Kaitlyn Flynn was named as the EIU Player to Watch for the upcoming season by the OVC.  Flynn posted four wins last season playing at the No. 2 pairs position in the line-up.

KEY RETURNERS: Laura Paniagua won six matches last season playing between the No. 4 and No. 5 pairs in the line-up.  Meanwhile, Catalina Rochaix won five matches playing at the No. 3 and No. 4 pairs spots.

HEAD COACH: Ryan Millar begins his first season at EIU after being hired in late February. Millar is considered one of the greatest middle blockers the United States has ever produced in volleyball.  He had a playing career that stretched 15 years as a member of the USA Men's National Team including three Olympic Games (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008).  In 2008 he helped lead Team USA to the Olympic Gold, the first for the USA in men's volleyball in 20 years.
 
He comes to EIU after serving three seasons as the associate head coach for the San Diego Miramar College men's volleyball program with the team winning back-to-back Pacific Coach Athletic Conference Championships and posting a Top 5 CCCCA ranking.  He began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater Brigham Young University (BYU) in 2006.  He then served as the interim head coach in 2007 with the team producing a 24-6 record.  Following that season he returned to the professional playing ranks.

NEXT UP: EIU will host Lindenwood at Sister City Park on Thursday, April 10th at 1 p.m. for their first and only home match of the season.