2009 Preseason All-OVC Team & Standings (PDF)
CHARLESTON, Ill. -- The Eastern Illinois volleyball squad has reported for its annual preseason camp, as the Panthers begin daily practices and training prior to the start of the program's 15th season as a member of the ten-team Ohio Valley Conference.
Leading the squad will be new head coach Alan Segal, who takes over a program that finished with a 5-24 overall and 2-16 conference record last year.
Segal was most recently an assistant coach at UAB, where the 2008 Blazers went 27-8 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Prior to that post, the California native coached nine seasons at Armstrong Atlantic and two years at Michigan Tech and as skipper of those two NCAA Division II programs owns a combined 273-136 all-time coaching mark.
Joining Segal on the bench will be newly hired assistant coach
Kate Price, a former four-year standout at Penn State, which included winning an NCAA Championship title in 2007.
“We are currently on a two-a-day schedule,” said Segal. “With both a morning and evening full squad practice, as well as an individual position practice in the afternoon each day.” Those individual units include a position breakdown of setters, defensive units, outside and middle hitters. Also up for the team are plans to take their yearly head and shoulder 'mugshots' and team photos sometime in the next couple weeks as well.
The 2009 squad features nine returning letterwinners, includes starters sophomore
Melanie Boykins and juniors
Erin Hake,
Kelsey Orr, and
Alex Zwettler. Other returning EIU letterwinners are sophomore Brittney Wallace, junior
Jorie Dieter, and senior
Jessica Wheeler.
Newcomers looking to jump into the lineup this season will be junior transfer
Kylie Cavanah (from Parkland College) and sophomore transfer
Chrissie Albers (from Winthrop), who will compete for the quarterback position as starting setter of the squad. Four true freshmen also enter Division I action, as
Stephanie Arnold,
Alison Berens, Andrea Johnson, and
Mattie Watts look to make an immediate impact this year.
Preseason practices are currently taking place in EIU's Lantz Fieldhouse, utilizing two adjacent sport courts. Lantz Arena, the usual home of Panther volleyball, is currently finishing up the installation, painting and varnishing of the new court floor.
Panthers open the 2009 slate with a home exhibition match on Sat., August 22, with a 4 pm start time on the Lantz Fieldhouse practice court. This match has become an annual tradition to allow the current EIU squad to compete against numerous Panther Alumni. This outing is always a fun time for all involved and a competitive way to start the season.
The official start of the season will take place in Fort Wayne, Indiana as EIU will participate in the five-team IPFW Invitational, taking on Kent State, Butler, Drake and the host Mastadons on Fri.-Sat., Aug. 28-29. Following a tournament in Denver, Colorado the next weekend, the Panthers host UIC in a nonconference instate battle on Tue., Sep. 8. That home opener will be followed by a four-squad tournament at Indiana State. Eastern will eventually open up league action on the road this year, traveling to Alabama and Tennessee to face Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech on Fri.-Sat., Sep. 18-19.
The 2009 Panthers have been picked to finish in tenth place in the OVC, as announced by the league office on Tues., Aug. 11.
As voted on by all ten OVC head coaches and respective Sports Information staff, Murray State has been picked to finish first in the preseason, behind nine first-place votes. Morehead State, with five first-place votes, has been picked to finish in second place, while Southeast Missouri, Austin Peay and last season's regular-season and tournament champion, Tennessee Tech, each tallied two first place votes apiece to potentially finish in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively.
… for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
