Erin Hake promised there would only need to be a third game in Saturday’s match against Tennessee Tech.

The freshman outside hitter from Marion, Iowa, had eight consecutive serves, which put the Panthers out in front to a 9-2 lead. That series also included one Hake service ace.

The Panthers would not relinquish the lead as they swept the Golden Eagles (30-27, 30-19, 30-23).

It was nearly an opposite performance from earlier in the season, when the Golden Eagles (12-12, 6-7 Ohio Valley Conference) defeated the Panthers 3-1 on Sept. 14.

Eastern head coach Lori Bennett said she was happy with Hake’s performance.

“Erin did a great job for us tonight,” Bennett said. “She has done well for us lately. Not that she hasn’t in the past as well, but she has really stepped up.”

Bennett said she was also impressed with the defensive effort, saying the blocking was as good as it has been all season.

The Panthers had 12 blocks for the match. Eastern out-blocked TTU 12-4.

Sophomore middle blocker Amy Sesol and freshman middle blocker Jorie Dieter both had six assisted blocks for the match and freshman outside hitter Jessica Wheeler had five.

Despite good numbers, Sesol said she could have performed better.

“I was mad,” she said. “I touched so many balls and didn’t put many of them down. I kept thinking, ‘stay down.'”

Sesol also had seven assisted blocks of the teams 10 total blocks in Friday’s match against Tennessee State. Sesol said was the best defensive performance of the season.

“It was obvious our blocking was 110 percent better than it has been,” she said.

Tech’s head coach John Blair said he was disappointed with his team’s play and effort for the match as he sat on his sideline and looked at the stat sheet.

“We didn’t play,” Blair said. “We didn’t show up. We played very inconsistently tonight and Eastern kept putting on the pressure. They just kept coming and coming and at some point you have to draw a line and respond. We never did that.”

Blair said the only thing he was happy with from his team was the play of some of the younger players stepping up. TTU’s freshman outside hitter Laura Pierce led the team with eight kills and had three digs in two games played.

Eastern nearly swept their other opponent Tennessee State (9-5, 11-12) the night before, defeating TSU in four games (30-22, 30-16, 28-30, 30-23).

The Panthers (11-11, 4-9) are in the eighth spot in the OVC standings. The top six teams qualify for the OVC Tournament.

The Panthers performed in front of a record-breaking crowd of 2,004 Friday. The previous record was on Nov. 13, 2004, with a crowd of 1,578 attendees.

Bennett said their performance this weekend is a message to the rest of the OVC teams.

“Tonight’s win was very important to our squad,” said EIU head coach Lori Bennett. “Combined with last night’s victory over Tennessee State, this should send a message to the rest of the league that we aren’t done yet. We’ll keep fighting. We still have a shot.”

Sesol agreed with her coach that they had sent a message this weekend.

“We’ve had great practices all week, and going 2-0 this weekend was huge for us, especially beating TSU yesterday and totally controlling Tech tonight,” Sesol said. “Our confidence level is sky high right now and the team finally realizes now is the time to make a move in order to make the OVC tournament.”

Bennett said she was proud of the entire team and mentioned senior outside hitter Eliza Zwettler and senior setter Maren Crabtree in particular.

“We got a great performance out of Eliza all weekend,” Bennett said. “She showed great leadership out there on the court.”

Zwettler had 31 kills and 35 digs for the weekend.

She said Crabtree did a great job of running the offense for both matches. Crabtree had 97 assists for the weekend.

Both freshmen outside hitters Kelsey Orr and Alex Zwettler had double-doubles during the weekend. Orr had six service aces Saturday night.Wheeler had 19 kills and six digs for the weekend, and junior middle hitter Lauren Sopcic had 17 kills total.

With the wins during the weekend, the Panthers eclipsed last season’s conference record of 3-13.

Eastern will next play on the road on as Southeast Missouri at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Panthers previously lost to SEMO in a five-game match on Sept. 18. The Redhawks are on a five-match winning streak.

Kelsey Orr, a freshman outside hitter, spikes the ball during Friday night’s victory over Tennessee State in Lantz Arena. Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News

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