Eastern spends a lot of time at practice working on their service game.

That did not help them on Tuesday.

The Panthers committed six of their 13 service errors in the third game and lost to Illinois-Chicago in four games at Lantz Arena.

“I think we should have done a lot better (serving), especially how much we work on it in practice,” said senior outside hitter Mary Welch. “We were going for an aggressive serve but at the same time we need to make sure it’s in.”

Head coach Lori Bennett said a lack of focus contributed to their problems.

“We weren’t comfortable all night,” Bennett said. “We weren’t in system much.”

Both teams had six service errors in the third game and the Flames pulled ahead by five points midway through.

“I felt like we got too relaxed and too comfortable,” said Flames head coach Nancy Mueller. “Against a good team like Eastern we have to be focused on each shot.”

Mueller agreed with Bennett on a lack of focus serving.

“I felt that we were not playing to win, but playing not to lose,” Mueller said. “We were not taking care of ourselves.”

Junior middle hitter Kera Griffin finished the match with 13 kills and said smaller errors had an effect on the match.

“We didn’t play to our full potential,” Griffin said. “We started off weak tonight. We just weren’t playing altogether.”

The Panthers trailed 19-14 midway through the third game when they took advantage of a service error by Ambria Springer.

Springer finished the game with 11 kills.

The senior middle hitter said her attacking was doing its part tonight.

“Every once in a while I’ll hit and hit and hit and then I’ll push, just to try and throw the defense off,” Springer said.

The Flames won the game 30-25 and held the Panthers to an .078 hitting percentage in the fourth game.

UIC won the fourth game 30-24.

Welch said the problem in the match was not being as aggressive as they usually are.

“There’s always factors going into attacking,” she said. “Maybe the pass was off, or maybe the set was off. There’s always different things to consider, but we do need to attack more.”

Junior outside hitter Eliza Zwettler led the Panthers with 17 kills in the match.

“She hit very well,” Bennett said. “That’s what we need from our outside hitters.”

Zwettler, who had 56 total attempts tonight, had 10 kills in the second game.

She scored Eastern’s final five points in the second game, which the Panthers won 30-26.

“She helped motivate everyone to pick up the pace and do their job,” Griffin said.