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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Four players finished with double-digit kill numbers as the Eastern Illinois volleyball squad scratched past Tennessee State in a five-set thriller on Saturday afternoon down in Nashville (20-25, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24, 15-13).  The win helped snap a ten-match Ohio Valley Conference losing streak, as the Panthers improved to 9-17 overall and 2-11 in league play.

Meeting for 26th time, the match between EIU and Tigers (3-20/2-9) featured 24 ties and six lead changes over the course of the two hour contest.  The Panthers now enjoy a 22-4 all-time series advantage over the league rival.

Sophomore Melanie Boykins, who has recently moved from being predominantly a middle hitter to the outside attack, led all Panthers with 14 kills, all while committing just one error enroute to an impressive .464 hitting mark.  She also tied Jorie Dieter with four total blocks in the win.

Juniors Alex Zwettler and Jorie Dieter added 13 and 12 kills, respectively, while the lone EIU senior, Jessica Wheeler, chipped in 11 put-a-ways.  Junior Kelsey Orr came just two kills away from registering double-digits, ending with eight.

Zwettler added 11 digs in the match to register her 36th career kill-dig double-double and 14th of the season.

Also earning a duo-duo mark was sophomore setter Chrissie Albers, as the transfer from Winthrop dished out a career high 53 assists and added 15 digs.  She also nailed three dumps off just five hits with zero errors.   Her 53 total assists set a new season high, besting fellow setter Kylie Cavanah's season high of 49 recorded in early September.

Defensively, sophomore libero Brittany Wallace passed 17 digs to lead all Panthers.

Team-wise, Eastern actually came up short in nearly every statistical category, including total kills (66 to 69), attack (.281 to .275), assists (58 to 62), aces (three to seven), and digs (60 to 64).  Yet the Panthers did win the blocking game over TSU (eight to seven).

Overall, the Panthers had their best hitting match of the season with a .275 mark, which included hitting zero errors in the all-important 15-13 fifth frame victory.  TSU, meanwhile, didn't have any hitting miscues in their 25-19 third set win.

TSU, dropping their second consecutive five-set match of the weekend after losing to Southeast Missouri in the same fashion last night, was led by Shaquita Williams' 21 kills.  Naomi Wells and Terakka Walker added 13 and 12 put-a-ways, respectively, while libero Kamille King led all players with 22 ups while Walker earned 16 digs for a double-double.  Vicmari Prospero was a force at the net earning six total roofs.

The opening set found the two squads tied at 2-all, but the home team would go on an 8-0 run and wouldn't look back the rest of the way, as they rode a five, six or seven-point cushion to the 25-20 win.

The second frame ended up pretty much the same way, except in the Panthers' favor as Eastern pulled away from a 2-all tie to lead by as many as eight points, whereupon the two teams would play nearly perfect side-out ball.  TSU did make one final push, forcing EIU to call a timeout, but a Dieter kill would give the win to the Panthers, 25-20, tying the match at one set apiece.

Following the break, both teams battled back and forth with neither squad leading by more than two points as the third set featured nine ties and four lead changes.  Tied at 17-all, the Tigers would make a late set push to finish with an 8-2 run to take the stanza, 25-19.

The Panthers found themselves down early in set four, 3-0, and TSU eventually led 9-5.  With the match on the line, Eastern took advantage of a couple of TSU hitting errors, while Boykins nailed an ace and Dieter put a ball away to tie the set at 9-all, 10-all, and 11-all.  Tennessee State would retake the lead up 20-17 before the Panthers recovered to tie it yet again at 20-apiece.  But three straight kills by the Tigers would give them a late 23-20 lead, yet a kill from Boykins, and a TSU attack error would move Eastern to within 23-22.  Following a kill from TSU's Wells, the home squad was suddenly serving for match point up 24-22.  But a kill from EIU junior Erin Hake, followed by yet another TSU miscue would help the Panthers tie it at 24, negating the Tiger's consecutive set and match-points.   Eastern would eventually scratch out the win thanks to two errors by TSU's Ruiz.

In the crucial fifth frame, the Panthers would lead early at 4-2, but a 6-4 TSU run would give them the 8-6 advantage at the halfway point of the set, as both squads switched sides of the net.  An eventual EIU kill from Wheeler would knot the set at 9-all, which was followed by a Dieter solo block and Hake kill, necessitating a TSU timeout as EIU now led, 11-9.  TSU would come within one point of EIU, but was unable to retake the lead or enjoy an advantage as the Panthers gutted out their first five-set victory of the season.  It didn't come easy, however, as EIU had three match-points to burn, up 14-11, whereupon TSU would score two consecutive points off kills from Williams, but a kill by Boykins would punctuate the hard-fought victory, 15-13.

Having played in their final road match of the season, Eastern will now finish up the 2009 campaign with six consecutive home matches over the next three weekends.  Starting next Friday and Saturday, the Panthers will entertain UT Martin and Murray State at 7 pm and 2 pm, respectively in league action.

 … for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID