Sophomore middle blocker Julia Stanev missed a block for the Panthers as the Screaming Eagles got the victory with a final score of 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 25-23, 16-25, 12-15) Thursday evening in Groniger Arena.

Sophomore outside hitter Leah Coleman sealed the game for the Screaming Eagles in the fifth and final set of the first game of the series.

Eastern started out dominant in the fifth set, going on an early 4-1 run against Southern Indiana after two consecutive aces from freshman libero/defensive specialist Ariadna Pereles.

Both Southern Indiana and Eastern recorded 3-0 runs with Eastern leading 7-4. Freshman outside/opposite hitter Katie Kopshever and junior outside/opposite hitter Lilli Amettis recorded kills, but a 6-0 run by the Screaming Eagles put Southern Indiana in the lead for the remainder of the set.

At the start of the game, the Panthers went on a 9-0 run in the middle of the first set. Amettis recorded a kill to start the run for the Panthers.

After an error by the Screaming Eagles, Kopshever recorded three straight points herself with two kills and one block. After another error from the Screaming Eagles, junior outside hitter Matilda Dahlström recorded a block of her own for the Panthers.

Although the Panthers lost the first set, the team kept it close throughout, ending the set with a 25-21 score.

The second set, however, was a different story.

Eastern ended the second set with a 25-19 win over Southern Indiana. Although this match had more back and forth between the two teams, Eastern’’s 6-1 run over Southern Indiana closed out the set.

Eastern’s duo of senior Kaitlyn Flynn and graduate Ireland Hieb ended the second set with a block to give Eastern the win.

The Panthers started strong in the third set with a 3-0 run. The last two points of the run came from Dahlström with two kills. Four plays later, Dahlström recorded another kill to put the Panthers up by three points against the Screaming Eagles.

Dahlström ended the game with 16 kills, five digs and four aces. Dahlström led the team in kills and scored the most points for the team with 21 total points.

“We had really good sets, and we had our moments where we played really good as a team, but we had our downs where we let balls go,” Dahlström said.

Eastern won the third set in a close battle with a final score of 25-23.

Southern Indiana came back in the fourth set with an early 3-1 run over Eastern. After multiple little runs started to add up throughout the set, the Screaming Eagles recorded a win in the fourth set with a final score of 25-16.

Amettis (12) and Kopshever (10) were behind Dahlström in the kills category for the Panthers.

Pereles led the team in digs with 32 total digs, and Hieb led the team in total blocks with six.

Eastern’s head coach Sara Thomas said she saw improvements in the blocking and defense throughout the game.

“We did some really good things,” Thomas said. “It’s more coming down to staying in that moment and continuing to learn how the win. We were up 2-1, so in that fourth set, how can we stay in that moment and not think of the outcome.”

With this loss, Eastern has yet to win a conference game, with an Ohio Valley Conference record of 0-2 and an overall record of 4-8.

Thomas is already “hyped up” about playing Southern Indiana again after this game.

“We’re going to go back tonight and watch film and see what changes we need to do and see what we don’t need to change because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Thomas said. “The beauty about the OVC is that you get another opportunity the next night to come out and battle against the same opponent. I can tell you we’re fired up to get a dub.”

The Panthers will be back on the court to take on the Screaming Eagles for the second time in this series Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Zaria Flippin can be reached at 581-2812 or at zhflippin@eiu.edu.