Coming off a big win in its home opener versus the Illinois-Chicago, the Eastern volleyball team will now focus on this weekend’s tournament at Indiana State.

The Panthers will participate in the Best Western Indiana State Classic this weekend and will play host Indiana State, Ball State and Chicago State this weekend in Terre Haute, Ind.

The Panthers (5-4) will try to carry their momentum from their win Tuesday in Lantz Arena.

“It’s always nice to get a win going into a tournament,” said transfer junior setter Kylie Cavanah.

Though the Panthers were happy to win, they realize they need to focus on the present, not the past.

“It is always good to win, but we just need to concentrate on playing our own game this weekend,” said head coach Alan Segal.

The Panthers play Indiana State 6 p.m. Friday.

Just like Eastern, it will be Indiana State’s third straight weekend tournament.

Last weekend at the Long Beach State/UC Irvine Invitational, the Sycamores (1-6) dropped all three of their matches in straight sets.

In their previous tournament, the Sycamore Classic, Indiana State did not fare much better as they went 1-4 including two more straight set losses to North Dakota and Missouri-Kansas City.

With only one win in their last seven matches, the Sycamores will likely be hungry for a win against Eastern on Friday night.

The Panthers will play two matches on Saturday.

At 9 a.m., they will go up against Ball State (2-4) who posted a 2-1 record in last weekend’s Ball State Active Ankle Challenge.

Stopping Ball State’s senior blocker Alisha Green and junior opposite side attacker Charde’ Phillips will be key to an Eastern victory, as both were chosen to the All-Tournament Team for their efforts in the Challenge.

To wrap up the weekend, the Panthers will be face Chicago State (0-6) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The Cougars have yet to put up a win this season as they have been swept in straight sets in each of the four matches this season.

Chicago State plays Ball State the day before they play Eastern, which will the Panthers an idea of what to expect.

Kevin Maras can be reached 581-7944 or at

“mailto: kjmaras@eiu.edu”>kjmaras@eiu.edu.

Eastern junior setter Kylie Cavanah serves the ball during Tuesday night’s match against Illinois-Chicago in Lantz Arena. The volleyball team is playing at the Indiana State Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily

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