The Panthers are ready to start their conference play this Friday at Lantz Arena against Murray State.

“We’ve been on the road for a while and it will be interesting to see how playing some tough powerhouse teams will help us in conference” junior outside hitter Eliza Zwettler said.

Eastern (5-6) had its first home match Tuesday against Illinois-Chicago after facing Arizona, Pittsburgh and Florida State among its non-conference opponents.

This should help the Panthers prepare against a Murray State team that finished eighth in the OVC last season and has turned things around this year. The Racers (8-2) sport the best winning percentage in the conference.

“(Murray State) improved a lot in a year” Eastern head coach Lori Bennett said. “It’s going to be a match that we’re going to have to earn it.”

Murray State has the best defense in the nation with 21.03 digs per game.

The Panthers are going to have to get through the Racer’s defense.

So far this season Murray State has three players ranked in the top 10 diggers in the OVC.

Heather Norris leads the conference with 5.39 digs per game with Alison Mugler (3.89) and Alyssa Groves (3.86) rounding of the top 10.

“It’s more important for us to be concerned about what’s happening on our side of the net than worry about [Murray State] side of the net,” Zwettler said.

Murray State is coming off two 3-0 wins against Central Arkansas and DePaul.

The Panthers are going to have to be in system to beat the Racer’s defense, Bennett said. “Passing well and making sure are hitters are transitioning off the net to be ready to hit,” she said.

Zwettler said keeping up the aggressive serving the Panthers have done so far this year will help with Murray.

“As long as we stick with it (by) serving tough and making good passes we can beat any team there is,” she said. “Those are the two most important things for us.”

Eastern is in the midst of a five-match losing streak and is hoping the losing starts now that conference play is starting.

“It’s just like any other game for us,” Zwettler said. “But we’re excited because it’s the start of conference play.”

Junior Maren Crabtree sets the ball during Tuesday’s match against the University of Illinois-Chicago in Lantz Arena. Crabtree had 48 sets during the match and has 463 for the season. Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News

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