FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 3, Tennessee State 1 (25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 25-21)
Tennessee Tech 3, @UT Martin 2 (16-25, 29-26, 25-21, 22-25, 15-12)
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Four different Panthers notched double-digit kills, as Eastern Illinois volleyball hit past visiting Tennessee State in a four-set affair (25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 25-21) on Friday (Oct. 4) night, as EIU improves to 9-8 overall and 3-1 in early-season Ohio Valley Conference action.
Seniors Reynae Hutchinson and Stephanie Arnold paced the Panthers behind 21 and 15 kills, respectively, with Hutchinson hitting .340 in the match and adding 10 digs to nab her 32nd all-time double-double.
Arnold, meanwhile, finished with a career-high .789 attack, as she drilled 15 kills with zero errors and behind just 19 total attacks. That mark ranks as the sixth best hitting performance by a Panther in school-history, while also ranking third highest during the current OVC era.
Sophomores Chelsea Lee and Abby Saalfrank added respective 12 and 11 kills of their own, with Lee also owning a .348 clip.
Thanks to a nice .336 attack, the Panthers will continue to own the top hitting mark in the entire league, as OVC-leading sophomore setter Marah Bradbury dished an assist on 60 of the 66 total Panther put-downs on the night.
Defensively, junior Kelsey Brooke set a season-high dig mark as she upped 21 TSU attacks to lead all players on the court. Sophomore libero Stephanie Wallace added 10 digs of her own, while Arnold's four blocks led EIU at the net. Brooke also delivered two aces to pace the Panther service game.
Team-wise, EIU held the advantage over TSU in kills (66-to-50), attack, (.336-to-.200), assists (65-to-48), digs (60-to-49), blocks (7.5-to-6.0), and points (78.5-to-61.0). Both squads fired off five aces, while the Panthers committed two more service miscues than TSU.
The Tigers were led by Taylor Swayzer's 17 kills and .517 attack, while Arijana Anderson added 16 put-a-ways. In defensive numbers, Sherryce Butler had four blocks, and libero Ileanuska Maldanado secured 16 digs.
Meeting for the 32nd time, the win improves the Panthers' all-time series lead over TSU to 25-7 and avenges last season's three set road loss. Since the Tigers are members of the OVC East Division, EIU and TSU will only meet once in the regular season.
The contest featured 32 ties and 15 lead changes as both squads battled evenly to start both sets one and two, but each time the Panthers were able to take advantage of multi-point runs to enjoy the early 2-0 match lead following wins of 25-17 and 25-18.
The third set would again start tight as both teams held court with a 21-all tie, but the visiting squad would go on a late 4-2 run to earn the 25-23 victory to extend the match.
After being tied at 10-all, the deciding frame would go to EIU as the Panthers slowly started to pull-away in the mid-way point of the set, forcing a TSU timeout up 18-14. The Tigers would make things interesting as TSU clawed to within 20-18 and 22-20, but a pair of kills from Arnold and an error by TSU's Wells would secure the Panther victory, 25-21.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, UT MARTIN 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech volleyball team won its first Ohio Valley Conference match of the season in exciting fashion Friday night, downing host UT Martin in five sets.
Tech had four players with double-digit kills. Senior Natalie Penrod led the team with a match-high 17 kills, while sophomores Audrey Lewis and Cody Dodd added 14 and 12, respectively. Senior Elise Robertson had 11. Lewis registered a double-double by adding 14 digs. Junior Courtney Smith led the defense with 24 digs, while Dodd added six blocks. Junior Madison Keyes finished the night with nine kills and no errors for an impressive hitting percentage of .474 and added five blocks. Freshman Sharon Anderson ran the offense, distributing a match-high 47 assists.
UT Martin was led by junior Allie Whimpy who put down 15 kills and sophomore Shelby Hoskins with 11. Sophomore setter Amanda Crask put up 44 assists.
In the fifth and deciding set, Tech took early control, leading 8-4 at the switch, and never let go. Tech put down nine kills in the deciding set and only allowed UT Martin to put away five kills. Tech took the deciding set, 15-12.
Tech dropped set one, 25-16, despite allowing UT Martin only 10 kills in the first set. The Golden Eagles were unable to capitalize, making too many errors of their own.
Looking for a change in set two, head coach Dave Zelenock put in outside hitter Lewis and Anderson at setter. The switch proved to be the right move as Lewis put down four of her six attempts during the set, only making one error, and Anderson put up 13 assists in the set. Coming from down, Tech was able to tie the set at 22, forcing a UTM timeout. Tech took the set in extra points, 28-26.
Carrying their momentum from set two, the Golden Eagles were able to maintain offensive authority over the Skyhawks by putting down 15 kills and maintaining a team hitting percentage of .257. Senior opposite Elise Robertson was perfect in the set, putting down four kills on just five attempts. Tech won set three, 25-21.
The Golden Eagles took an early lead in set four but could not maintain the pressure. The Skyhawks took the lead following a 12-12 tie and never relinquished it. UTM forced the fifth set with a 25-22 win in set four.