The Eastern volleyball team was able to snap a 13-match losing streak last Tuesday, and after this weekend have now flipped that losing streak into a three-match winning streak. 

The Panthers won a pair of matches at home against Tennessee State on Friday and Saturday, improving their conference record to 3-11.

Eastern is now in eighth place in the conference after being in 10th place last week. They have jumped Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Tennessee State, the two teams they have beaten, in the standings. 

Their winning streak is the second-longest active winning streak in the OVC, trailing only Morehead State’s 12-match winning streak. 

The Panthers had to come from behind in Friday’s match to get the win. 

They were able to win the first set 25-18, but then dropped a pair of close sets 26-24 and 25-23 to fall behind 2-1 in the match. 

But Eastern responded in the fourth set, winning 25-20, and then took the fifth set 15-12 to claim the match. 

In the match, Eastern outhit Tennessee State .129 to .122 and 59 kills to the Tigers’ 57. 

The Tigers were led by Aniya Williams with 12 kills and a libero Gina Rivera Ortiz with a game-high 25 digs. 

Eastern was led by Danielle Allen with 17 kills, Ireland Hieb with 16 kills and Ella Collins with 14 kills. 

Hieb also hit .433, the most in the match by a player with more than 3 kills. She also added 4 block assists to lead the team with 18 points. 

On Saturday, the Panthers won the first set once again to grab an early lead, and then won the second set as well, both by the score of 25-18.

Tennessee State responded to win the third set 25-22, but could not hold off Eastern in the fourth set.

The Panthers won the set 25-22 to sweep the weekend series with the Tigers.

Allen and Hieb once again led the team in kills, with Allen getting 17 kills for the second-straight match. Hieb added 15 kills and a team-high 6 block assists. 

 For Tennessee State Rivera, Ortiz once again posted a game-high with 25 digs, this time reaching that number in four sets instead of five. 

They were led offensively by Mion Weldon with 12 kills and Williams with 10. 

Eastern has four matches left this season, with two road matches against Tennessee Tech coming up next weekend. 

The Golden Eagles are 7-7 in conference play this season. 

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or ajtumino@eiu.edu.