One year after going to the Ohio Valley Conference tourney, the Panthers finished ninth in the conference.

While Eastern did lose five seniors from last year, this was not the season the Panthers had hoped for.

“I think it was a little disappointing not making it to the tournament,” said junior outside hitter Eliza Zwettler. “But we learned a lot and have a lot coming back and I think that’s a positive thing.”

Having only two seniors this year, the Panthers often started multiple freshmen and sophomores.

Eastern had one of the youngest teams in the conference this year.

“I think we struggled. That’s kind of obvious,” said head coach Lori Bennett. “Just with some of the inexperienced players we had on the court a lot, we knew that we were going to be pretty high error at times. We’re in the transition of kind of rebuilding I guess you could say. We have improved in a lot of ways, but our high end is very high and our low end is still pretty low, so that’s what we have to continue to work on.”

The Panthers had 705 total attack errors this year, 132 more then their opponents.

This led to Eastern having only a .172 hitting percentage this year.

“Offensively we can get better,” Bennett said. “We can stay focused on getting kills, putting balls away and having a higher hitting percentage. Defense can always improve, passing can always improve.”

Eastern had started off the season strong in its three non-conference tournaments, being 6-6 before OVC play started.

This included three tough games against Pittsburgh, Northwestern and Arizona at the Wildcat Classic in Evanston.

In the OVC, the Panthers also took second-place Tennessee State to five games and held first place Jacksonville State close at times in games. Jacksonville State went undefeated in conference play.

“Early, we did very well competing against Arizona and Northwestern and Pitt up in Chicago and we played very well against Tennessee State when they were here in the first two games,” Bennett said. “We also played well against Jacksonville State at times.”

While the season is now over, the Panthers now look forward to preparing for next season.

During the off-season, Zwettler said the team is going back to the basics.

“There’s always something to work on at every level, but I think in the off-season, we’re going to work on little things and the fundamentals, because everything starts from the fundamentals,” Zwettler said.

Senior outside hitter Kara Sorenson also added that the team has to figure out what works and put it together.

She also thinks the bar will be raised for next years’ team.

“I think the expectations will be a bit higher next year for the girls to win more games and do better,” Sorenson said.

Bennett is hoping this off-season to work on team goals and establishing new goals.

“We can just get a little bit more comfortable as a team and get a bit better understanding of what the expectations are of the team and the program of where we want to go,” she said. “Also, we can get a better defined path of reaching those goals. We have a lot of time to improve and the new girls coming in will help us as well.”

The Panthers signed Erin Hake from Marion, Iowa, and Kelsey Orr from Forest, Ind., for next season.

Both look to be outside hitters for the Panthers.

These players look to replace the two senior outside hitters graduating this year, Mary Welch and Sorenson.

“Mary did a good job. She was very, very strong for us all year,” Bennett said. “Definitely at the end, both offensively and defensively, she really stepped up and provided us with a lot of leadership on the court and a lot of expectation of her teammates. Kara had some great matches this season as well and had the ability to provide a lot of offense. That will be missed greatly, from both of them.”