Eastern (4-23, 1-15 Ohio Valley Conference) was swept at home for the third weekend this season and extended its losing streak to nine matches with back-to-back losses to Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech.

League-leading Tennessee Tech. swept Eastern (25-19, 25-20, 25-21) for the second time this season on Saturday at Lantz Arena.

The Golden Eagles (16-10, 13-3 OVC) had 42 kills to Eastern’s 29. Tennessee Tech also out-blocked the Panthers 12-5 and had a .232 hitting percentage to Easern’s .088.

Eastern’s best chance came in the second set. The Panthers were leading 18-14 before committing five of their six set errors during the final points.

Golden Eagles’ sophomore outside hitter Leah Meffert, who had 10 kills, hit the ball to wrap up the set 25-20. Eastern sophomore outside hitter Alex Zwettler had a match-high 13 kills. Tennessee Tech senior middle blockers Jessica Asplund and Caitlin Bullock had 6.5 blocks combined.

The Panthers lost in four sets to Jacksonville State (25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 25-22) on Friday night at Lantz Arena.

The Gamecocks (9-17, 5-11 OVC) had 54 kills to Eastern’s 41 and out-passed the Panthers 51-36 in assists.

Jacksonville State head coach Rick Nold said Eastern needs to work on their serve and serve-receive offense to open up their athleticism.

The Panthers had six serving errors and six receiving errors.

“It’s a matter of them working on using their athleticism,” Nold said about the Panthers. “Serve and serve-receive is needed to show athleticism. That is a problem of all young teams.”

The first set saw some strong blocking from senior middle hitter Lauren Sopcic and sophomore middle blocker Jorie Dieter. They combined for 3.5 of Eastern’s four blocks.

This helped the Panthers cruise to a 20-18 lead and within striking distance of winning the set. However, Gamecocks’ sophomore middle blocker Caitlin Vorbeck had a kill and a block and Eastern hit three balls out of bounds to drop the set 25-22.

“We kind of let our guard down,” Sopcic said. “We came out strong in the first game, but we let up.”

Trailing 2-0, the Panthers jumped to a 21-13 advantage in the third set.

Dieter, sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Orr and freshman middle blocker Melanie Boykins each had three kills in the set.

Vorbeck ended the set with a serving error to give the Panthers a 25-18 win.

“Between the second and third set we were told to focus and not string errors together,” senior defensive specialist Laura Welsh said.

Eastern head coach Lori Bennett said she was pleased with how her team played in the third set.

“Typically when we lose two sets, we get out of system and not fight back,” Bennett said.

Eastern will travel to Tennessee to play Tennessee State and Austin Peay for its final matches of the season.

The match against Tennessee State is set to start at 7 p.m. Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.

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

Sophomore outside hitter Erin Hake taps a ball over for a point during the Panthers match against Tennessee Tech Saturday afternoon in Lantz Arena. The Panthers lost the match in three sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-21). ( Robbie Wroblewski

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