Eastern’s volleyball team took on the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles Friday night at Groniger Arena in Charleston.

The Panthers dropped all three of their sets to drop their overall record to 4-10 and lose their sixth straight game, while the Screaming Eagles improved to 8-9.

Here are five takeaways from this game that shows what led to the sweep. 

• Inconsistent defense 

The Panthers’ offense scored at least 16 points in each set while also scoring 23 and 20 points in the first two sets respectively.

However, the Panthers defense could not hold down Southern Indiana’s offense.

The Panthers made a crucial error on the third serve of the first set when there was miscommunication on defense. This led to Southern Indiana’s sophomore outside hitter Leah Coleman to find an open space on the Panthers’ side of the net to take a 2-1 lead.

The most unanswered points came in the third set, where Southern Indiana scored six points in a row after the Panthers took an initial 2-0 lead.  

“We always focus and strive to just be disciplined within our system, so when we see things like that, it just means that we need to refocus,” Eastern’s head coach Sara Thomas said.  

• Questionable calls 

Coach Thomas used both of her challenges in the game; both were unsuccessful.

Thomas’ first challenge was when the Screaming Eagles scored a point to make the score 17-22 in the second set. The referee ruled the ball was hit in bounds without a player from Eastern hitting it back.  Coach Thomas’ next challenge came at a 2-1 score in the third set.

Since Thomas lost both of her first two challenges, she was not allowed to challenge a call for a third time.

Towards the end of the third and final set, the Panthers were visibly upset over calls ruled in favor of Southern Indiana.  

“That’s part of the game, when you run out of your challenges,” Thomas said. 

• Failure to take advantage of leads 

Despite suffering a 3-0 defeat, the Panthers held leads and kept up with the Screaming Eagles throughout the night. Their largest lead was 11-9 in the first set.

Eastern took an early 2-0 lead in the third set, to which USI responded with six unanswered points.  

• Willis, Coleman and Moore’s dominance 

Southern Indiana was led by Coleman and sophomore outside hitter Ashby Willis.

Willis led the Screaming Eagles in kills with 11, and Coleman was second with nine. Willis was also a key part of the Screaming Eagles’ defense as she recorded six digs.

Junior libero Keira Moore was the biggest key player on the Screaming Eagles’ defense with 15 digs. 

• Service and attack errors 

The Panthers had a combined total of four service and attack errors in the first set, giving the Screaming Eagles four points.

Consecutive attack errors were committed by Eastern freshman outside hitter Katie Kopshever in the beginning of the third set which was a big part in the Screaming Eagles unanswered scoring.

Eastern’s junior outside hitter Matilda Dahlström, who played a big part in keeping the Panthers’ offense strong throughout the night, committed a service error of her own in the third set to put the Screaming Eagles up 11-7.  

“I think everyone worked really hard on chasing them down, we just have to put them higher in the middle so our setters can work with all of our hitters,” Dahlström said. 

Eastern next play Thursday at Western Illinois at 6 p.m.

Drew Farrell can be reached at 581-2812 or at atfarrell@eiu.edu.