The Eastern volleyball team had two players post a double-double in each match at the Butler Top Dawg Tournament over the weekend to help the Panthers to a 2-1 victory.  

Junior outside hitters Giovana Larregui Lopez and Ella Collins were named to the All-Tournament Team by all the coaches for their respective performances. Lopez had 47 kills and 43 digs and Collins had 38 kills to end the tournament. 

The Panthers began their tournament play last Friday morning with a match against Butler, losing 3-1 in four sets.   

Lopez led the way with 16 kills and 10 digs in her first career match with the Panthers. Collins posted 12 kills and 12 digs, posting a .400 hitting percentage in set one.  Setters Catalina Rochaix and Summerlyn Smith combined for 30 assists during the match.  

Attack errors seemed to be an issue for the Panthers as they had 36 compared to Butlers’ 21, dropping the Panthers’ hitting percentage to .046. The Bulldogs also out blocked the Panthers 9-3.  

Defensively, the Panthers were led by Junior libero Christina Martinez Mundo who finished with 23 digs. The Panthers had 69 digs during the match while the Bulldogs had 65.  

Mariah Grunze led the Bulldogs with 13 kills, seven digs, and two block assists. Jenna Splitt added 20 assists while libero Jaymeson Kinley added 24 digs to help seal the win for the Bulldogs. 

The second match was more promising for the Panthers as they beat Akron 3-0. Both Lopez and Collins continued to be effective in the Panthers’ offense.  

Lopez had another double-digit match as she had 14 kills and 13 digs. Collins added another 10 kills, making her second on the team in hitting percentage for the second match with a .308. Freshman outside hitter Tori Mohesky led the way with a .312.  

Rochaix again led the Panters with 14 assists. Sylvia Hasz started her first career match at setter and ended the match with 11 assists. Coming off the bench, Smith added eight assists.  

The Panthers’ defense forced 21 attacking errors and blocked seven of the of the Zips’ kill attempts. Elisavet Papageorgiou had five block assists and five kills to lead the Panthers.  

The Zips were led by Teagan Ochaya with 10 kills and six digs. Faith Johnson followed behind with seven kills and 10 digs and Anne Lesure added 13 assists.  

The Panthers then closed out the Butler Top Dawg Tournament with a five-set win over Oakland with a score of 3-2.  

Collins and Lopez had their third double-double performance, respectively, of the season against the Golden Grizzlies. Collin produced 16 kills and three total blocks while Larregui Lopez had 17 kills and 20 digs.  

The defense for the Panthers was once again led by Martinez Mundo. She led the team with 27 digs. Rochaix and Smith had 19 and 14 assists, respectively. 

The Golden Grizzlies were led by Patti Cesarini with 20 kills and 14 digs. Libby Gentile and Jessica Riedl both had nine kills during the match.  

The Panthers will travel to Chicago Thursday to compete in the Chicago State Invitational. The first match will be at 6:30 p.m. against UIC.