The Panthers have not held at tournament at Lantz Arena since 2005.

But that all changes this Friday when Eastern hosts the Pepsi Challenge Tournament that runs through Saturday.

Many of the Panthers said they were happy they would be playing at home this weekend.

Coach Lori Bennett said the team will be ready to play and that there have been no changes to the starting lineup as of yet.

Injury concerns

Bennett said there were a few injuries, but most of them were minor and nothing she is too concerned about.

But she did say there were a few that they were monitoring concerning senior outside hitter Eliza Zwettler and freshman middle blocker Jorie Dieter.

“There are a few minor injuries, nothing major,” Bennett said. “Jorie Dieter is having trouble with her sciatic nerve. Eliza’s nose is broken, probably from when we were down in Texas.”

Zwettler’s injury occurred last week at the Southern Methodist University Tournament.

Her game status is that she will play. Bennett said she may or may not have to wear some gear to protect her nose, but the decision has not yet been made.

Focus on opponents

Eastern’s opponents this weekend will be Indiana State, Memphis and Loyola (Chicago).

Bennett said she is not primarily concentrating on one of her opponents.

“I don’t know that any team concerns me more than any other,” she said. “Honestly, I feel that they all concern me equally.”

She said her first focus though is by Memphis by default, since they will be the first opponents the Panthers will see at 10 a.m. on Friday.

The 10 a.m. start of the match does not concern Bennett either. She instead is happy with the fact saying that she set it up that way herself.

“I feel pretty good about it,” she said. “I like that it gives us time in between our first match and our next match later in the day. And then we only have one match on Saturday so, I think it’s the best possible schedule for us.”

Bennett said they will be reviewing game tape over Memphis to prepare for the match as well as the other teams, but that Memphis is the one team that they know the least about.

Senior setter Maren Crabtree said it would be important to view tape so that they can prepare and continue their momentum.

Continuing momentum

Bennett and Crabtree mirrored each other’s statements on what the team must do to be successful this weekend.

They both said that ball control and generating an offense were needed for victory.

Crabtree said that it would be necessary for the offense to be quick and keep up their communication.

Team morale

Bennett said the team morale was good for this week.

She said they were still tired from traveling from Dallas last weekend, but that they were still excited.

“Morale is high right now,” Bennett said. “We’re real excited to get off to a good start.”

Crabtree said she was excited about the upcoming tournament, but she said she thinks the freshmen are probably the most excited.

“I’m sure all the new girls will be excited with all their friends and family here,” Crabtree said. “I’m excited to get off to a good team stat at home.”

Eliminating mistakes

Crabtree said that one of the things they needed to improve upon dealing with last weekend was with their serving.

Bennett agreed and said they must stop making serving errors and forcing errors in general.

The Panthers had nine serving errors against SMU last weekend and 27 attacking errors.

Bennett said she would like to see those errors be eliminated.