Eastern volleyball continues to dominate in OVC play, not allowing Morehead State to win a single set on Thursday and Friday.
These two teams have quite a bit of competitive history. Coming into Thursdays match, the Panthers had lost seven straight games to the Eagles.
Head Coach Sara Thomas spoke on how it felt finally getting a win on Morehead.
“You never take any win for granted, it is a remarkable feeling that our players are getting better and better, year after year,” Thomas said.
These two wins chipped away at the all-time series, now set at 21-23 Morehead.
The panthers controlled the first set, with a streak of nine unanswered points after the first few minutes of play. Eastern let Morehead come back a little in the middle of the set before scoring another eight unanswered points to win the set 25-15.
The team agreed that momentum from their point streaks helped their play.
“It’s really easy when you have the momentum, and it’s nice when you can keep it,” sophomore middle blocker Kate Dean said.
The Panthers started the second set off strong, scoring five unanswered points. Eastern was able to maintain at least a three-point lead for the rest of the set, before taking off in the last half of the set. The second set was won on a challenged play that gave Eastern the point, ending in a score of 25-13
When asked what the players were thinking when they saw the soon-to-be-challenged foul, Dean noted how the team trusted their own instincts to hand in the green card. “We have the confidence, we know the game, and we see the court really well. We have a lot of trust in Coach Sara to get those for us.”
“We felt good knowing our coach trusts us,” freshman middle blocker Julia Stanev said.
The 3rd set was the most competitive set of the match. The set was tied 5 times before a Morehead State timeout gave the Panthers time to adjust. After this timeout, Eastern put up four unanswered points, pulling away from Morehead State. The Panthers completed the sweep with a score of 25-20 in the last set.
The players talked about locking in and focusing on the moment during that third set time out.
“We talked about winning every moment and focusing on the present” Dean said. “It was a good time out to lock in and figure ourselves out.”
This win puts the Panthers at 16-1 on the season and 6-0 in conference play.
Two players that Thomas thought excelled in this game were sophomore setter Catalina Rochaix and senior libero Christina Martinez-Mundo. Rochaix led all players with 37 assists. Martinez-Mundo led all players in digs with 12. Graduate outside hitter Natalie Mitchem led the Panthers in kills, with a team high of 11.
The Panther’s next game will be against the Lindenwood University Lions, next Friday in Lantz Arena at 4 p.m.
Cameron Thomas can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.
Aidan Cusack can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.
