Last year, by this time, Eastern was looking forward to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

This year, Eastern is wondering if they can make it.

With no conference win currently, the Panthers are in a hard spot for one of the top six places that play in the tournament.

Even facing this hard situation, junior defensive specialist Lindsay Walsh still sees the Panthers as a prospective entry in the tournament.

“I think we can make it,” Walsh said. “We have eight games left. If we win them all we’ll have a chance. We’ll be 8-8 and I think that will put us at the bottom of the top six.”

Samford head coach, Michelle Durban, sees the Bulldogs’ tournament chances as being low.

“(The tournament chance is) probably not very good,” Durban said. “We’ve lost two players from our roster due to injuries.”

The Bulldogs have lost senior libero Callaway Logan and sophomore setter Jackie Jaszcz this season.

“One tore her ACL and one had another shoulder surgery,” she said.

Both will be out for the remainder of the season, Durban said.

The Panthers have the last eight games facing teams from both ends in the conference.

This weekend, the Panthers face Samford and Jacksonville State. The Bulldogs are just above Eastern in 11th place, while the Gamecocks are at the top of the conference.

Panthers head coach Lori Bennett sees no difference between the top team and the bottom team.

“I don’t know if there’s any more potential for beating Samford then there was beating Murray and Martin,” Bennett said. “Everybody’s pretty good and on any given day anything can happen in our conference this year.”

With six teams in the conference having between three to six wins, no team has truly been overpowering except the Gamecocks.

Player for player, Bennett said, no team is better than the other.

“Jacksonville State has been the most steady by far,” she said. “I think that will continue to be the case. With anybody else, it just depends on who has a better day, really.”

Freshman outside hitter Jessica Wheeler said the team has a good chance of winning this weekend.

“We have a lot of momentum going in,” Wheeler said. “We’ve had a lot of progress in practice”

Bennett is hoping the home games this weekend will help out for the last half of the conference schedule.

“It would be great to pick up a win and get a little momentum going into the last half of the conference schedule,” Bennett said.