Eastern’s volleyball team has added the Ole Miss Magnolia Tournament to the 2008 schedule in order to better prepare for the Ohio Valley Conference schedule.

The Ole Miss tournament will be held at Oxford, Miss., on Sept. 12-13. This tournament replaces the Ball State Classic in September that Eastern played in 2007 leading up to conference play.

Eastern also has the North Carolina Central and EIU Panther Tournaments. Last year, the volleyball team played in three tournaments.

Ole Miss’ head volleyball coach Joe Getzin invited the Panther volleyball team to attend the tournament last season, according to head volleyball coach, Lori Bennett.

Due to a scheduling conflict, Eastern wasn’t able to play at the tournament. Bennett made an effort this year to compete because Ole Miss has Georgia Tech and Southern Methodist University competing in the tournament as well.

According to Ratings Percentage Index, which is a combination of team winning percentage, opponents average winning percentage and their opponents winning percentage, Georgia Tech was 62 and SMU was 138 out of 324 teams last year.

Eastern was ranked 224, while Ball State Classic opponents Illinois State and Ball State were 52 and 254, respectively.

Bennett believes that the strength of Georgia Tech and SMU as opponents will greatly benefit the Panther’s endurance.

“It will prepare us for playing our conference schedule at a very high level,” Bennett said.

When making the schedule, Bennett likes to balance their opponent by strength.

Georgia Tech is a very strong offensive team. They went from 1,753 kills in 2005 to 2,023 in 2007. Georgia Tech has also increased its digs from 1,761 to 2,030 in that same period.

However, the Yellow Jackets struggled with blocking kills. They were out blocked two out of the last three years 302.5-327 in 2005 and 294.5-363 in 2007. Errors are another weakness with a total of 828 last season.

SMU has extremely solid defensive skills. The Mustangs compiled 2,026 and 2,103 digs from the last two seasons. They have out blocked opponents 296-233 in 2006 and 272-252 in 2007.

The Mustangs’ vulnerability is offense. They haven’t scored more than 1,800 kills in the past two seasons. In 2006, they were outscored 1,784-1,797.

The Panthers compiled an overall record of 22-36 and an 8-28 OVC record since 2006. Bennett attributes this to having a young team.

Eastern began the 2007 season at a blistering 8-1. However, they soon cooled off.

“The starting lineup had two or three freshmen at a time,” Bennett said. “Maintaining that level of play every game takes experience.”

The Panthers only have one junior and three seniors for the 2008 season and Bennett said that she has five recruits joining the team. The roster will have 14 players.

The coach’s goal is for Eastern to qualify for the OVC Tournament for the first time since 2005. To qualify, the Panthers need to finish in the top six of the conference.

Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944 or at rtbajek@eiu.edu.