The Eastern volleyball team now stands at 4-3, with five games remaining until conference play begins on Sept. 24.

This puts the Panthers second in the Ohio Valley Conference, with Austin Peay leading with a record of 9-1. Morehead State is in third place, only percentage points behind Eastern, at 6-5.

Senior outside hitter Kelsey Orr finished the Panthers’ opening match of the weekend against Eastern Michigan two digs shy of a double-double, which means having double figures in kills and digs, as the senior also notched 12 kills.

The Panthers made 37 kills in their first match, with 32 of them being set up by junior setter Chrissie Albers.

Orr continued to lead the Panthers against host Michigan State, coming up with eight kills and six digs in the Panthers’ third consecutive straight-set loss of the season. The last two coming against Eastern Michigan on Friday and Boston College to close out the Harvard Invitational last week.

The Panthers rebounded, however, by beating Clemson in four sets to finish the tournament on a high note.

After losing the first set to the Tigers, the Panthers rebounded by taking a back and forth second frame in which the lead changed hands six times.

Eastern proceeded to take possession of the critical third set, which could have swung momentum in a 1-1 game, before taking the fourth set to clinch the match.

Orr once again led the Panther offense with her 18th career kill/dig double-double. Freshman outside hitter Reynae Hutchinson also made a significant contribution, notching her first career double-digit kill match as a Panther with 11 putaways.

Junior setter Chrissie Albers also picked up 46 assists against Clemson.

Around the OVC

Tennessee Tech dropped three matches this weekend, falling to Missouri, Central Arkansas and Western Kentucky.

Tennessee-Martin lost a trio of matches to Texas State, Alabama and North Texas.

Jacksonville State lost three matches to Texas A&M, Notre Dame and Denver before defeating Gonzaga.

Morehead State added two the win column over Mercer and Georgia Southern before tasting defeat at the hands of North Carolina State.

Murray State faltered against Loyola and Evansville, while coming out victorious over Western Carolina.

Austin Peay won each of their weekend encounters, defeating East Tennessee State, North Carolina-Asheville and North Carolina-Greensboro.

Tennessee State picked up wins over Air Force and La Salle while losing to Memphis.

Eastern Kentucky lost three times this weekend to Nevada-Las Vegas, California State-Fullerton and Pepperdine.

Southeast Missouri State lost to South Florida and Southern Illinois, while defeating Mississippi State.

Bradley Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu

Kaitlyn Franktz, a freshman outside hitter, spikes the ball during practice in Lantz Arean on Sept. 8. Their record currently stands at 4-3 for the season. (Jordan Boner/The Daily Eastern News)

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