Eastern dropped all three of its matches this weekend at the Ole Miss Magnolia Classic in Oxford, Miss., getting swept by Mississippi, Southern Methodist and Georgia Tech.

The Panthers (3-7) have not won one set in any of their last four matches and have lost seven of their last eight matches.

Eastern senior outside hitter Lauren Sopcic said the results of the tournament are deceiving.

“First off, one of the main points of this weekend was learning,” Sopcic said. “All the teams were awesome. We used it as good experience.”

Freshman libero Brittney Wallace also agreed with Sopcic.

“(The tournament) helped us as a whole,” Wallace said. “It forced us to play at a higher level.”

Wallace continued to fill in for sidelined junior libero Shaina Boylan and led the Panthers with 29 digs.

Eastern continued to struggle with its hitting percentage, as the Panthers averaged a .018 hitting percentage in their three matches.

The Panthers didn’t have a set with a hitting percentage better than zero in their three-set loss to Southern Methodist. Eastern hit -.241, -.065 and -.038 in each set for a -.116 average in the 25-9, 25-12, 25-21 loss.

Eastern’s best hitting game came Friday against Mississippi. The Rebels, though, out-hit the Panthers .372 to .157 in a three-set victory (25-13, 25-20, 25-20).

No Eastern player scored more than eight kills in a match. Sophomore outside hitter Erin Hake led the Panther attack with 21 kills in the tournament.

Eastern sophomore outside hitter Alex Zwettler played only one set in the tournament, but left with an injury.

Sopcic said Eastern is resting Zwettler so she could be ready for Ohio Valley Conference play.

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