The Eastern volleyball team will be heading out west this weekend for its second tournament of the year.

After a long plane ride across the heartland of the country, the Panthers will find themselves all the way out in Denver for a weekend tourney hosted by the University of Denver.

Though other tournaments may have been available, the Denver Invitational, which will be played at Hamilton Gymnasium, seemed to catch the Eastern head coach Alan Segal’s interest.

“It’s good for the program to expand its horizons and play other competition outside of the Midwest,” Segal said. “There will be a lot of good teams for us to play, and besides, Denver’s nice.”

Going up against Air Force, West Virginia, Southern Utah and Denver, the Panthers will have their hands full as they look to improve upon their 2-2 record from last weekend’s Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational in Fort Wayne, Ind.

“I don’t know too much about the teams we will be playing,” said sophomore libero Brittany Wallace. “I’m sure the competition will be tough.”

Not knowing too much about the opposition may benefit the Panthers as they can worry less about who they are playing, and focus more on playing sound fundamental volleyball.

“We’re really excited,” said senior outside hitter Jessica Wheeler. “We always take one big trip a year, and Denver should be a lot of fun.”

Both Wheeler and Wallace earned invitational honors last weekend.

Eastern’s first opponent will be West Virginia (2-1) at 12 p.m. today. The Mountaineers own a 2-1 record against the Panthers all-time, but the two haven’t faced off since 1990.

The team will then go on to play Southern Utah (2-2) at 4 p.m. today. Southern Utah is in its first NCAA season since the sport was dropped after the 1988-1989 season.

The Panthers will pick up the action again at 2 p.m. Saturday against the host Denver Pioneers.

The Pioneers will be looking to turn around their slow start to the season as they are 0-3 on the season losing to Notre Dame (0-3), LSU (2-3), and Stanford (0-3).

Eastern will wrap up the tournament at 6 p.m. Saturday against Air Force.

Air Force is 4-1 on the year including a three-set sweep of Canisius in its last match.

After the Denver Invitational, the Panthers return to Lantz Arena for their season opener against Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Kevin Maras can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.