This weekend the Eastern volleyball team will play two matches on the road as they look to continue its Ohio Valley Conference schedule against Tennessee State Friday night and Austin Peay the following afternoon.

The Panthers are coming off a big win against Murray State on Tuesday at Lantz Arena, where they won in four sets by scores of 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, and 25-20.

The match was the Panthers’ first OVC win of the season, leaving them with a record of 1-2 in the OVC and 8-7 overall.

The match with Murray was close throughout, with a total of 14 ties and six lead changes in the third set alone.

Sophomore outside hitter Emily Franklin said, coming off this win, the Panthers will look to keep it going against Tennessee State and Austin Peay, but they are still looking ahead to the next match and not dwelling on the win.

“It feels good to have that win under our belt,” said Franklin. “But at the same time we need to stay focused and keep looking forward to the next match.”

Head coach Kate Price said that the team is confident going into this weekend, but not overly confident.

According to their record, the Panthers have been a better team away from Lantz Arena, with a record of 7-5 away from home versus 1-2 in Charleston.

Franklin says that home or away, the Panthers are the same team, whether they are at Lantz Arena or another team’s gym.

Despite being focused on their next opponent, the Panthers are still happy to pick up their first conference win against Murray State and use that momentum to their advantage against Tennessee State and Austin Peay.

The Panthers did well on the stat sheet against Murray State as well, and they will look to keep building on that heading into their matches this weekend.

Sophomore middle hitter Alison Berens, in particular, had a big night. She served up five aces, which led all players on the court and was more than the entire Murray state team had for the match. The five aces were also a new career high for Berens.

Berens said that the win over Murray State was big because it proves that the Panthers can hang with the rest of the OVC. “That really helped boost us,” Berens said. “It showed that we can play against teams in our conference, and that Tennessee State and Austin Peay should definitely be ready for us.”

Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or at

Senior outside hitter Kelsey Orr serves the ball against Murray State Tuesday night in Lantz Arena. The Panthers play at Tennessee State Friday night. (Audrey Sawyer

(more…)