TUESDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 3, @Southern Indiana 1
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - he Eastern Illinois volleyball team won their second contest against Southern Indiana on Tuesday night by a score of 3-1. The victory moves their overall record to 14-1 and their OVC record to 4-0. The final set scores of the match were as follows: 25-19, 16-25, 25-19, and 25-18.
The Panthers trailed by as many as four points in the first set, but Eastern outscored USI 13-4 down the stretch to overtake the Screaming Eagles and secure a 1-0 lead. Natalie Mitchem led the charge for EIU with seven kills on a spectacular .778 hitting percentage. Catalina Rochaix handed out 11 assists in the set, while Laura Paniagua added two service aces to EIU's offensive effort.
EIU fell behind early in set two and was never able to find enough of an offensive rhythm to dig themselves out of the hole, which grew to as much as 11 points. Kaitlyn Flynn tallied three kills in the set while Giovana Larregui López and Kate Dean picked up a pair each.
Eastern once again fell behind in set three, but following a Sara Thomas timeout down 10-6, the Panthers countered with an 8-2 run to take the lead. Later on, EIU closed the set out on a 6-1 run to regain the match advantage. Rochaix again recorded double digit assists (10) in the set, as Kaitlyn Flynn led the attack with four kills while Mitchem and Dean both collected three of their own.
The fourth set was neck-and-neck most of the way through, but the Panthers finished strong with a 7-2 run to win the set and remain unbeaten in OVC play. As a team, EIU hit a stellar .458 in the set as they totaled 14 kills. Kaitlyn Flynn was the closer for Eastern, scoring the final three points of the match with two kills and a solo block.
Giovana Larregui López ended up as EIU's leading scorer on the night, combining 12 kills, three service aces, and a block assist for a total of 15.5 points.
Natalie Mitchem led the Panthers in kills with 14 while hitting at an average of .313. It was her ninth match of the season with a hitting percentage of over .300.
Kaitlyn Flynn was also in double digit kills with 10. She has now recorded 10 or more assists in six of her last seven performances, including the last four consecutively.
Kate Dean also had a nice night offensively, recording eight kills on a match-high .571 hitting percentage. She has now hit .500 or better in three matches.
Catalina Rochaix had another big night setting the ball, racking up 35 assists for an average of 8.75 assists per set. It was her tenth match of the season with at least 35 assists.
Laura Paniagua and Giovana Larregui López had three service aces each, with Christina Martinez Mundo, Masyn Navarro, and Tori Mohesky also adding aces to bring the Panthers' total to nine.
Martinez Mundo again led the team in digs with a match-high mark of 27, averaging 6.75 digs per set. Rochaix just missed a double-double with nine digs, while Larregui López added seven digs to her stat line.