With Eastern volleyball winding down to their last five games, chances have slipped away for a tournament bid.

Having seven teams in the Ohio Valley Conference already at 6-6 or higher has put the Panthers out of tournament contention. Included in the top seven is Southeast Missouri State, who the Panthers play tonight at Lantz Arena to finish out their home games.

“It would appear at this point that we will not make it,” Eastern head coach Lori Bennett said. “Unless there’s just a major mixing up of other teams, I just don’t see how, at this point, we could get in.”

SEMO, which is 6-6, currently can make the tournament, but the last four games are vital for them.

Head coach Renata Nowacki knows this, and knows the team can not take any team lightly.

“We know we have four extremely important games left, all with equal importance,” Nowacki said. “For us to take 5th or 6th spot we know we need to take all four games, with no slip-ups.”

In many teams cases, team motivation and morale could get low at times like this.

The Panthers, however, see many accomplishments which can still be done.

“Just to keep getting better and to play well and to finish well and to win at least three out of the next four matches,” Bennett said. “They love to play volleyball and we still get to do that for the next few weeks. There’s still some things left to work towards, definitely.”

Winning three of the four could play spoiler for teams in the OVC.

Facing not only SEMO, but Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State, the Panthers have a chance not only to shake up the standings in the OVC, but give UT-Martin, who is currently 5-7, a chance to slip into the tournament.

“We played very, very well against Jacksonville State when they were here and it would be great to go there and do the same thing and get a game or even a match from them,” Bennett said. “I believe that we have the team that could do that.”

Nowacki said with the schedules, anything can happen.

“I think, right now with everyone’s schedule, anything is possible,” Nowacki said. “Upsets are possible across the board. I just hope it’s not us.”

Against JSU, Eastern held each game to within 11 points. JSU is currently No. 1 in the conference.

According to senior outside hitter Mary Welch, this was due to the team’s constant improvement this year.

“I think that throughout the whole year we’ve definitely made improvement,” Welch said.” We’re playing tough against the top teams of the OVC. We haven’t stayed stagnant or anything we’ve always been improving.”