Sept. 9, 2006. That was the last day the Panthers celebrated a win.

The win came against DePaul, but since then, the Panthers have lost nine straight matches.

Eastern will try to end its losing streak tonight at Ohio Valley Conference foe Southeast Missouri. The Redhawks beat the Panthers’ last opponent, Eastern Kentucky, 3-0 on Friday and then lost to Morehead State on Saturday, 3-1.

The Panthers (5-10, 0-4 OVC), meanwhile, have begun the conference season winless.

They are one of just two teams, along with Samford, who have not won a conference game.

Despite all the recent woes of the team, head coach Lori Bennett still has confidence in her team.

She said that her team has remained relatively unaffected by their losing streak.

“They’re fine,” Bennett said. “We need to start making little adjustments, there’s no big problems.”

The players don’t feel discouraged by their slow start.

“We’re excited to go out and win,” said senior outside hitter Mary Welch. “We’re definitely determined to prove that we’re better than this and we want to go out and get our job done.”

Although the team may not be winning much, that doesn’t mean it isn’t having success statistically.

The Panthers have forced opponents to four games against opponents seven times during the losing streak.

“Our record doesn’t reflect how we’ve been playing,” Welch said.

The team has started out matches fine, but then fall apart as it progresses.

In three matches during the losing streak, the Panthers have won the first game of the match.

“Coming out in the opening game, we are very focused,” Bennett said. “As the match goes, we lose our focus. The team gets lost in the flow of the game.”

Despite the troubles, Bennett said she would not change the way the team gets ready for matches.

“We’ll watch film, decide on a game plan,” she said. “Preparation will be the same as always.”

Bennett said one of the main areas where the team needs to get better is on offense.

The Panthers are 10th in the OVC in hitting percentage with a .143 percentage.

The statistic is a measure of accuracy in offensive attacking.

“Offensively we need to improve,” Bennett said. “It closely relates to winning. We need to get more kills and put more balls away.”