The Eastern volleyball team will be visiting Austin Peay and Tennessee State this weekend in its final two road Ohio Valley Conference matches of the season.

First serve against the Lady Governors will be at 7 p.m. today in Clarksville, Tenn.

Saturday Eastern will take on Tennessee State at 2 p.m. in Nashville, Tenn.

The Panthers are coming off one of their most uplifting victories of the season, snapping a nine-match losing streak against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

The Panthers (8-16, 1-10 OVC) are now eight matches away from the end of the season and are looking to improve upon their overall record.

The Panthers are in 10th place in the OVC.

Only the top six teams qualify for the OVC Tournament.

Heading down the home stretch, the team is glad to have a little momentum going into the final matches and have seen many of their leaders step up as of late.

“We really came together as a team,” said junior middle blocker Jorie Dieter.

This includes the switch of sophomore Melanie Boykins from a middle blocker to outside hitter.

The Panthers will go up against Austin Peay (15-6, 8-2), which, just like the Panthers, is coming off a win against the Cougars.

The Lady Govs swept SIUE in three straight sets (25-23, 25-20, 26-24).

Austin Peay, which is second in the conference, is looking to pile up the wins during the remaining matches of the season to try and overcome undefeated Jacksonville State for first place in the OVC.

Deadly on offense is senior outside hitter Stephanie Champine, who was a force for the Lady Govs in the their last match against Eastern on Sept. 26 at Lantz Arena.

Champine led the Lady Govs in that match with 20 kills off of a .362 attack and committed only three errors in the game.

Sophomore libero Paige Economos was also a nuisance to the Panthers recording 15 figs and chipping in with two aces in the Lady Govs’ three set victory against Eastern on Sept 26 in Charleston.

On Saturday, the team will face Tennessee State, which can relate to the Panthers a bit more than Austin Peay.

TSU is 2-7 in the OVC with a 3-17 overall record. Besides defeating the Panthers, the Tigers have only defeated Tennessee Martin in the OVC.

The last time the Panthers played TSU, they came out with a four-set loss as the Tigers put down the Panthers in every set except the third.

Following this weekend, the Panthers will be looking forward to a much-needed six-match homestand to end the season.

OVC Standings

Team

OVC

Overall

Jacksonville State

11-0

18-5

Austin Peay

8-2

15-6

Morehead State

9-3

16-7

Tennessee Tech

7-4

8-12

Murray State

5-5

5-15

SE Missouri

4-6

8-13

E. Kentucky

4-7

4-16

Tennessee State

2-7

3-17

UT Martin

2-9

7-14

E. Illinois

1-10

8-16

Top six teams make the OVC Tournament

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

Sophomore setter Chrissie Albers prepares to set the ball against Jacksonville State on Oct. 10 in Lantz Arena. The Panthers snapped their nine-match losing streak against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Saturday. (Chelsea Grady/The Daily Eastern News)

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