Eastern Illinois (0-5, 0-5 OVC) vs. Lindenwood (9-9, 2-3 OVC)
April 10th | 1 p.m. | Charleston, Ill. | Sister City Park
 
ON TAP: The Eastern Illinois beach volleyball team hosts Lindenwood on Thursday for their first and only home contest of the season. The action is set to get underway at 1 p.m. at Sister City Park.

SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are 1-5 all-time against the Lions, with EIU defeating Lindenwood in 4-1 in 2023 for their first OVC win. They last met on March 29th, with LU taking a 4-1 win.

LINDENWOOD: The Lions' win over EIU brought their overall record to 9-9 and conference record to 2-3. Abby Jacobs and Annalie McWhorter lead the Lions with a 12-6 record, including an 11-6 mark as the No. 2 pair and 1-0 record as the No. 1 pair. The duo is 8-2 in their last 10 outings.

LAST TIME OUT: EIU fell 1-4 at Lindenwood in their last outing.

No. 5 pair Tori Mohesky and Sylvia Hasz were responsible for EIU's lone point as the duo prevailed in three sets with scores of 21-13, 15-21, and 15-13.

Laura Paniagau and Kailtyn Flynn won their opening set in the second flight, but eventually fell in three sets (21-19, 16-21, 8-15).

The Panthers dropped the remaining three pairs in straight sets.

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.

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.