Pre-Weekend Notes (PDF)
Marquette Classic Tournament Central (Live Stats, Web Video, Results, etc.)

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois volleyball will look to snap a three-match skid as the Panthers are set to compete at the highly competitive Ambassador Hotel Golden Eagle Classic on the campus of Marquette in Milwaukee, Wis., this weekend.

The Panthers (2-4) will battle the host Golden Eagles (4-1) at 10 a.m. on Friday (Sep. 7), followed by a 5 p.m. match against Wake Forest (3-1).  Then on Saturday (Sep. 8), Eastern will battle the first of two currently ranked opponents this season, playing #23-Michigan (7-0) at noon.

#25-Northern Iowa (4-2) will also be competing at the multi-squad event, but EIU is not scheduled to face the Purple Panthers at the upcoming tourney.

All action will take place at Marquette's Al McGuire Center.

MARQUETTE CLASSIC SCHEDULE
... all times central

Friday, September 7 ...
... EIU at Marquette ... 10 a.m.
... #23-Michigan vs. Wake Forest ... Noon
... Wake Forest vs. EIU ... 5 p.m.
... #23-Michigan at Marquette ... 7 p.m.

Saturday, September 8 ...
... #25-Northern Iowa vs. Wake Forest ... 10 a.m.
... #23-Michigan vs. EIU ... Noon
... #25-Northern Iowa vs. #23-Michigan ... 5 p.m.
... Wake Forest at Marquette ... 7 p.m.

Sunday, September 9 ...
... #25-Northern Iowa at Marquette ... 2 p.m.

Panther fans can follow all the action via the Marquette website (link above).  Coverage includes free live stats, plus video streaming (for a charge) of each match featuring Marquette.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
• The Panthers are led on the court behind freshman setter/right-side hitter Abby Saalfrank's 59 kill tally (2.46 kps).  She's also second in total assists at 99 (4.12 aps) and third in block totals with 12 (0.50 bps).  She recently earned a spot on last weekend's Oakland Invite All-Tourney squad.

• Seniors Emily Franklin and Alison Berens follow with 58 and 54 total put-a-ways for a respective kills-per-set mark of 2.64 and 2.25 from the outside and middle attack.

• Marah Bradbury leads the offense with 136 assists (5.67 aps) and owns the top Panther service game with 13 unreturnable shots from behind the serving line.  She's also hitting .345 with 12 kills and just two miscues.

• Coming off the bench, sophomore Kelsey Roggemann and junior Stephanie Arnold are hitting .306 and .280, respectively with 33 and 28 kills.

• Defensively, freshman libero Stephanie Wallace leads the team with 103 digs (4.29 dps) and picked up EIU's first all-tourney kudos as she was selected DePaul Invite all-tourney to open the season a couple weeks ago.

• The EIU net defense is led by Stephanie Arnold's 21 total blocks, including a team-best 20 assisted stuffs.  Both Alison Berens and junior Reynae Hutchinson follow with four and three solo roofs, respectively.

• Team-wise, the Panthers lead the opposition in aces (40-to-29), and digs (343-to-327), yet currently trail in every other statistical category, unfortunately, including coming up short in kills (300-to-317), attack (.191-to-.222), assists (287-to-297), blocks (45.0-to-56.0), and points (385.0-to-402.0).

SCOUTING MARQUETTE
• The tourney host Golden Eagles are 4-1 heading into the weekend, with MU's lone loss coming against Northwestern.  Their four victories have all come via sweeps, including against fellow OVC foe Tennessee Tech and Xavier, Ole Miss and Bowling Green.

• The duo of senior Danielle Carlson and newcomer Erin Lehman both sport 49 kills, with Carlson owning a .366 attack

• Sophomore Lindsey Gosh follows with 46 kills and owns her team's best serve behind 15 aces.

• Junior Elizabeth Koberstein runs the offense with 184 assists (11.50 aps) behind a .378 attack with 18 kills.

• SeniorsKelsey Mattai and Holly Mertens are both a presence at the net with 12 and 11 blocks, respectively, while junior libero Julie Jeziorowski leads the back court defense with 86 digs (5.38 dps).

• Eastern actually owns a sizeable 10-1 all-time series advantage over Marquette, although the last matchup between EIU and MU was in 2000.

SCOUTING WAKE FOREST
• With a 3-1 early-season mark, the Demon Deacons are led on the court by senior Andrea Beck's 75 kills (4.17 kps) and .417 attack.  She also ties sophomore Ashlee Rusk with 13 blocks to rank second on the squad.

• With six aces apiece, junior Kylie Hargreaves and senior Heather Kraft own the top service game, while Hargreaves owns the second-highest attack mark.

• Sophomore setter Danae Rosendall has dished out 191 assists (10.61 aps), while her squad hits .269 on the year.

• Defensively, junior Kristin Grissom is a force at the net with 26 stuffs (1.44 bps), while freshman Megan Miller leads a large contingent of diggers with 48 ups.

• This weekend will mark the first-ever meeting between the Panthers and Demon Deacons on the volleyball court.

SCOUTING #23-MICHIGAN
• Undefeated at 7-0 and ranked No. 23 by the AVCA, the Wolverines are led by Lexi Erwin's 115 kills (4.42), .322 attack, 12 aces, and 14 digs.

• Jennifer Cross and Kelly Murphy follow with 62 and 61 kills, behind respectively .326 and .245 attack clips, while Cross has 34 total stuffs (1.31 bps) to lead her squad at the net.

• Lexi Dannemiller's 257 assists lead her squad while she is hitting .436 behind 29 kills and just five errors.

• In other defensive numbers, Tiffany Morales owns a team-best 97 digs

• The Panthers and Wolverines will meet for the first time this weekend, while it marks the first of two matches against a ranked opponent this season for EIU.  Eastern last faced a ranked squad in 2010, losing in three to #9-Washington.

All-Time Vs. Ranked Opponents ... 0-8
0-2 home ... 0-6  neutral ... 0-5 in three ... 0-3 in four
1986 - hosted #11-Illinois ... L, 1-3 - 5-15, 8-15, 15-13, 6-15
1986 - hosted #17-Penn State ... L, 0-3 - 11-15, 9-15, 8-15
1986 - vs. #19-LSU ... L, 0-3 - 5-15, 5-15, 14-16
2001 - vs. #4-Arizona (NCAA) ... L, 0-3 - 14-30, 14-30, 21-30
2002 - vs. #24-Santa Clara ... L, 1-3 - 17-30, 15-30, 30-28, 27-30
2003 - vs. #30-San Francisco ... L, 0-3 - 17-30, 23-30, 16-30
2006 - vs. #24-Arizona ... L, 1-3 - 26-30, 30-21, 20-30, 19-30
2010 - vs. #9-Washington ... L, 0-3 - 17-25, 19-25, 14-25

SAALFRANK TRIPLE-DOUBLE
• Freshman Abby Saalfrank nabbed her first career all-tourney honor at last weekend's Oakland Invitational as she led all players on the court with a pair of kill-assist double-doubles versus Oakland and Toledo and registering a kill-asssist-dig triple double against Iowa.

• Her 12 kills, 14 assists and 14 digs against the Hawkeyes on Aug. 31 marked the first such single-game performance by a Panther since Meleah Cutler (1996-99) finished with 15 kills, 11 assists and 22 digs versus SEMO way back on Oct. 22, 1998.

PANTHERS EARN DUO-DUOS
• The setting duo Abby Saalfrank and Marah Bradbury each nabbed their first career duo-duo honors off their respective 13 kills/19 assists and 24 assists/12 digs versus Indiana State.  The win over the Sycamores helped EIU snap a recent three-match losing streak to their I-70 rivals.

•  Saalfrank has upped her kill/assist duo-duo performances to three on the year with the addition of 10 kills/12 assists and 13 kills/18 assists against Oakland Toledo, respectively, last weekend in Rochester, Mich.  In fact, she came one dig shy of earning her second triple-double in the tough loss to Toledo.

• Junior outside hitter Reynae Hutchinson, meanwhile, upped her career kill-dig duo-duo mark to 18 all-time following 10 kills and 11 digs against Toledo last weekend.

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