Senior outside hitter Eliza Zwettler and fellow senior setter Maren Crabtree were not happy with their performances at the Ball State Classic.

Illinois State defeated Eastern 30-21, 30-22 and 30-26 on Saturday.

“We could have played better,” Crabtree said. “If we would have passed better, it would have been a better match.”

The Redbirds out hit the Panthers .233 overall to .040 and out-blocked 12-3. The only area Eastern was superior in was digs, where the Panthers out dug Illinois State 63-54.

Zwettler agree and said she thought all the Panthers could have made better choices.

“We didn’t play to our capability,” Zwetter said.

Eastern head coach Lori Bennett said her team played well against Illinois State, despite being swept.

“Illinois State is a very good team and we were able to hang in there with them,” she said. “At times we were beating them.”

Bennett said her team started off slow on Friday night.

“We were a little flat,” she said. “We struggled to get to that level we have been playing at this season.

Eastern won on Friday against Ball State 29-31, 30-15, 30-32, 30-28 and15-11.

“It never should have went to five games,” Zwettler said.

The five-game pattern has been a niche for the Panthers (7-2). Eastern is 4-1 in five-game matches.

Zwettler said playing matches lasting five games has not been too hard on the team, but she said she thought it may have been for this weekend.

Zwettler said she did see a positive from the overall weekend.

“In game four (against Ball State) we were able to come back from behind,” she said. “It showed a lot of character and heart to do that.”

Freshman outside hitter Kelsey Orr had a good statistical weekend as she had 23 kills and earned her fourth career double-double on Friday night.

Zwettler earned her 20th double-double of her career this past weekend and sophomore libero Shaina Boylan had a career-high 31 digs on Friday night and finished with 53 overall for the weekend.

The Panthers will play this Friday against Tennessee Tech and then again on Saturday against Tennessee State. This will mark the beginning of the Ohio Valley Conference season.