The Eastern volleyball team begins Ohio Valley Conference play at 7 p.m. today when it travels to Jacksonville, Ala., to face Jacksonville State.

Coming off a three-set sweep of Chicago State in its final match of the Indiana State Classic last weekend, the Panthers stand at 6-6 overall.

Though they have played twelve matches already, the team believes the real season begins now, as the OVC matches are No. 1 on their priority list for this season.

“Conference games are what count,” Eastern head coach Alan Segal said before the start of the season. “These first few wins and losses don’t really matter in the whole scheme of things.”

The Panthers will battle a Gamecocks squad that is coming off a three-set sweep of rival Troy.

The Gamecocks also enter the match at 7-5 overall heading into Friday’s match.

Jacksonville State is also similar to Eastern as it has had a run of bad luck as of late.

Before their home win against Troy, the Gamecocks were swept in three matches in a weekend tournament against Arkansas, Kansas and North Texas.

Key players for Jacksonville State include senior outside hitter Brittney Whitten and junior setter Brooke Schumacher.

Whitten was a First Team All-OVC selection, and led the league with 418 kills last season.

She was also the second player in OVC history to be named Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week in the same week after leading the league in kills and digs in the first week of conference play.

Schumacher, on the other hand, quarterbacks the Jacksonville State offense as she appeared in all 29 matches last season and amounted 783 assists and ranked seventh overall in the OVC with 7.6 assists per game.

Keeping Whitten and Shumaker off their game will be key to Panther success.

However, as they have stated the whole season, the Panthers say worrying about their own game and focusing on their side of the net is most important.

“There is nothing we need to do or change going up against Jacksonville State,” junior outside hitter Alex Zwettler said. “If we stay focused on the right things, we will do great things this weekend.”

After the match against Jacksonville State, the Panthers will travel to Cookeville, Tenn., to face Tennessee Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The Golden Eagles are 1-8 on the season and are coming off a four-match losing streak after losing all three of their matches at the Cardinal Classic last weekend.

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

Senior outside hitter Jessica Wheeler goes to bump the ball during the match against Illinois-Chicago Sept. 8 in Lantz Arena. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

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