When the Ohio Valley Conference released its annual Preseason Coaches Poll for each individual fall sport, things didn’t look too good for Eastern athletics, specifically for the women’s soccer and volleyball teams.

When the polls were released in early August, the women’s soccer team garnered 34 votes from the coaches, making its predicted place of finish eighth in a nine-team league.

Likewise, the volleyball team wasn’t picked to have much success either.

The coaches’ poll released by the OVC, predicted they would finish last in the conference.

Now, it’s not as if the league’s coaches were not warranted in ranking the Panthers so low.

After all, the women’s soccer team finished 3-14-2 and the volleyball team went 5-24.

Even though neither team has played a conference game to this point, their opening week success has to be noted.

The women’s soccer team started last season 0-12-1, scoring just one goal. Through three games this season, the Panthers have scored four goals helping them to a 2-1 record.

Even more impressively is the start has occurred on the road with the two victories happening in Indianapolis and Cleveland, respectively.

The volleyball team opened its season last weekend with a tournament in Fort Wayne, Ind.

The Panthers’ four matches produced up-and-down results as they swept their two Friday matches before dropping both Saturday matches.

But even still, the Panthers proved to be competitive with victories over Kent State and Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne, the tournament’s host.

They will face stiff competition next weekend with a tournament in Denver against the likes of West Virginia and host Denver, and their conference season doesn’t start for another three weeks.

But, the possibility of moving up on their 2-16 conference record a year ago appears a possibility.

The same appears possible for the women’s soccer team.

They finished 3-4-1 in conference a year ago and made a late push into the conference’s final playoff spot, but their scoring woes were apparent throughout the season, and the early season success is reason for optimism.

While it might be too early to determine how successful either program will end up this season, the fact remains clear that the two teams – both under first year coaches – are trying to turn things around and do so in a hurry.

If they can transition their early season success into success in the conference season, anything remains possible.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.