Eastern sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Orr voiced her team’s opinion on facing Southeast Missouri (5-6, 3-2 Ohio Valley Conference) at 7 p.m. today at Lantz Area.

“They are an unlucky team to face us now,” Orr said. “We are over our shock of not winning and will take them.”

Orr and the Panthers (3-12, 0-5 OVC) are looking to end their nine-match losing streak against the Redhawks. Eastern has also yet to win a conference match.

The Panthers’ current nine-match losing streak is the third longest in team history. Eastern dropped 13 straight matches during the 2006 season and lost 12 matches in a row during the 2002 season.

Senior middle blocker Lauren Sopcic said the Panthers’ losing streak doesn’t represent the team’s ability.

She said a win against the Redhawks would help the team start winning more matches.

“We know we are a good team,” Sopcic said. “We need to start competing like one.”

Eastern head coach Lori Bennett said her team has been concentrating on hitting, blocking and its serve-pass game in preparation for the match against Southeast Missouri.

She said the Panther’s team goal is to have a hitting percentage of at least .250. The Panthers’ current hitting percentage is .106 – well below the team goal.

“Our middles need to be up early making sure we have a slow to fast (hitting) approach and not a slow to slow,” Bennett said of attacking effectively.

Southeast Missouri was picked to finish third in the OVC before the season and is currently ranked fourth.

The Redhawks’ defense has been a strong factor in Southeast Missouri’s OVC success.

Despite playing four fewer matches than Eastern, Southeast Missouri has a 67-56.5 blocking advantage against the Panthers. Redhawks’ sophomore middle hitter Emily Hughes has 34 of those blocks.

“We can do a better job to set up blocks off the hitters,” Bennett said.

The Redhawks are leading the league in digs per set with 17.81.

Overall Southeast Missouri has dug 748 balls to Eastern’s 646.

Southeast Missouri junior libero Molly Davis has recorded 190 digs, and is third in digs per set in the OVC with 4.52.

Redhawks’ sophomore outside hitters Kelly Benacka and Claire Keaton have 113 and 106 digs for Southeast Missouri, respectively.

Eastern will counter defensively with freshman libero Brittany Wallace, who has a team high 152 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Alex Zwettler has also added 100 digs.

The Panthers will need Wallace’s defense and Zwettler’s offense (106 kills) to beat the Redhawks.

Orr said the Panthers are tired of losing and have come together as a team.

She said Southeast Missouri would be Eastern’s first OVC “victim.”

“I think we’ll shock a lot of people from here on out,” Orr said.

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

After stopping a spike Sept. 23 against Murray State, freshman outside hitter Madison Barr celebrates at Lantz Arena. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

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