The Eastern volleyball team began Ohio Valley Conference play last weekend, losing a match to Jacksonville State on Friday, and winning a match versus Tennessee Tech Saturday.

With the preseason tournaments out of the way, the Panthers headed down to Jacksonville, Ala. for their first match, which was played at Pete Mathews Coliseum, where the Panthers lost in four sets (25-23, 25-13, 18-25, 25-13).

“In the first match, we made some hitting errors,” Eastern head coach Alan Segal said.

A bright spot for Eastern in the loss was the play of sophomore middle blocker Melanie Boykins, who had 16 kills in the loss. She also had a .542 hitting percentage.

The Panthers redeemed themselves Saturday, winning convincingly with a three set sweep (28-26, 25-23, 25-22) over the defending OVC champion Tennessee Tech Eagles.

The Panthers moved to 1-1 in conference play this year and 7-7 overall. Leading the Panthers once again was Boykins, who had 13 kills this time around while hitting for a .345 on the night.

“We committed less errors and played better defense,” Boykins said.

Sophomore libero Brittany Wallace led all players with 23 digs, and junior middle hitter Alex Zwettler notched her 30th career double-double. The Panthers continue OVC play this week when they travel to Murray, Ky., for a 7 p.m. match Tuesday.

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