By Anthony Catezone

Sports Editor

@AnthonyCatz

The Eastern volleyball team entered the weekend with an opportunity to take sole possession of first place overall in the Ohio Valley Conference.

It left the weekend losing both of its road matches to Morehead State in five sets (19-25, 25-23, 21-25, 27-25,11-15) and Eastern Kentucky in straight sets (22-25, 22-25, 23-25).

The Panthers, now 9-10 overall and 3-3 in conference, fell from third in the OVC to fifth. They saw their three-game win streak come to an end, as they are now on a two-game losing streak.

Morehead State remained undefeated in the OVC at 6-0, as the conference’s only undefeated team. The Eagles have won 11 of their last 12 matches and six straight.

Eastern Kentucky, meanwhile, put an end to its four-game losing streak with the win over Eastern and improved to 2-4 in the OVC this season.

On Friday in Morehead, Ky., Eastern was trailing Morehead State two games to one in the match. The Panthers were also trailing the Eagles 24-16 in the fourth set, before reeling off nine consecutive points to take a 25-24 lead.

Eastern eventually won the frame 27-25 and forced a fifth set where Morehead State handily won 15-11 with just two ties and one lead change.

Senior outside hitter Reynae Hutchinson led all players with 19 kills. She also finished with 12 kills and two service aces.

Red-shirt senior middle blocker Stephanie Arnold finished second on the team with 15 kills behind a .310 attack. She also had a team-high two blocks.

Morehead State held Eastern, the OVC’s top hitting team, to a .174 hit percentage, including just .071 in the first set.

Eastern is hitting .224 on the season — the only team more than .200.

Sophomore setter Marah Bradbury followed her OVC Setter of the Week performance for the third consecutive week with 50 assists on 59 total kills for the Panthers.

On Saturday, Eastern was out-hit .236 to .168 in the three-set loss to Eastern Kentucky.

Eastern Kentucky is the OVC’s second worst team in attack, hitting just .144 on the season.

The Panthers committed 26 attack errors compared the Colonels 11.

Six Eastern players hit less than .167 in the match. Hutchinson was the only Panther to hit more than .200 with .245 hit percentage.

She totaled a game-high 19 kills again with 12 digs, for her 34th career double-double performance. The Mattoon native was also the only Panther with more than eight kills.

While it did feature 26 ties, there were just five lead changes the entire match, as Eastern Kentucky controlled the majority of the game.

Eastern will return to the court for Homecoming at 7 p.m. Friday in Lantz Arena against Austin Peay.

Anthony Catezone can be reached at 581-2812 or ajcatezone@eiu.edu.