Eastern finished its two-match weekend play with 58 kills in two matches, or 29 kills per match.

The Panthers had 28 kills against Southern Illinois Edwardsville and gave up 42 kills to the Cougars on Saturday. Friday wasn’t much better for the Panthers as they had 30 kills to Southeast Missouri’s 52 kills.

Only sophomore outside hitter Alex Zwettler broke double digits through the two matches with 10 kills against SIUE.

Eastern head coach Lori Bennett said the team needs to work on fundamentals.

“We have to focus on putting some balls away,” Bennett said. “We have had some success with less errors, but we need to work on transition passing after a block or dig to be better.”

Bennett said the Panthers don’t have many players capable of hitting the ball hard for a spike and that has led to the lack of high scorers on the team.

Middle blockers excelling

Bennett said freshman middle blocker Melanie Boykins and sophomore middle blocker Jorie Dieter started in place of senior middle hitter Lauren Sopcic in the Panthers’ match on Oct. 28 against Tennessee Martin because of their improvement this season. This season, Boykins has collected 112 kills, which is good for fourth on the team. She has 34 blocks to lead the Panthers defensively. Dieter has 47 kills on the season. She said this recent offensive contribution is a testament to her hard work.

“I’ve made some changes in practice,” Dieter said. “I’ve been very tight by the net during games, but I’ve loosened up and have worked on my timing.”

Eastern sets record

The Panthers have been swept in straight sets 18 times this season – the most in program history.

The 1980 Eastern team coached by Lynette Nevins held the previous mark for most straight-set losses. The Panthers finished the season 42-23 but were swept 16 times. However, 11 of those sweeps were in two-set matches instead of the current three.

Eastern was swept in straight sets in 13 matches during the 1990 season.

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