Eastern was shut out in their Saturday evening match against Ohio Valley Conference opponent Tennessee Tech to split the series. The final score in Groniger Arena was 3-0.
The Panthers started off the first set with a 4-0 lead. However, after they were up 9-4, the Screaming Eagles went on a six-point run to take the lead. They wouldn’t give it back until Eastern went on a three-point run to make the score 17-16 in their favor.
Tennessee Tech would soon regain the lead and eventually finish off the set on a 3-point run. The set would finish 25-20.
Junior outside hitter Matilda Dahlström said they struggle to keep their momentum going and then struggle to break their opponent’s.
“These small momentums we get, but we don’t keep it up, like we get our momentums, but we let them have their momentums, like we don’t break their momentum,” Dahlström said. “That’s the thing we have to work on.”
Something that they did keep going all game was their energy.
“We just keep working on staying a close-knit team, and no matter the score keeping that energy really high,” Eastern’s head coach Sara Thomas said. “I do like that we kept that energy high. And our belief and our spirits are still very high because there’s a lot of season left.”
In the second set the Golden Eagles kept pouncing and took a 3-point lead right away. The Panthers came back and tied it twice, but Tennessee Tech wouldn’t trail the entire set.
The third set started off close, but the Panthers still couldn’t grab a lead once. Tennessee Tech eventually pulled away after a three-point run to make the score 9-6. After this point they wouldn’t lead by less than three for the rest of the set.
The match was put away on a hectic point. A diving save that hit the end of senior libero Mckenna Young’s hand saved the Golden Eagles’ hopes to put the match away on that point. After Eastern hit it back, freshman middle blocker Mallory Jenkins hit the ball down before it could even fully cross over and got the kill to finish off the match.
Two leaders in the box score for the Screaming Eagles were junior setter Jordan Karlen with 35 assists and senior outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen with 15 kills. However, they weren’t the only ones on the team to contribute to the win.
Tennessee Tech’s head coach Jeannette Phillips accredited the win to everyone showing up together.
“I just think we all showed up at the same time,” Philips said. “That sometimes in volleyball that’s all you have to do. You just have to have six people show up all at the same time. Sounds easy, it’s a lot harder to accomplish sometimes.”
A top of Eastern’s stat card in points was Dahlström who had 12 kills and 1.5 total blocks.
Despite their loss, Thomas is thrilled they split with Tennessee Tech who is currently fifth in the conference.
“I’m very excited that we split with Tech,” Thomas said. “They’re a very good team.”
With the loss Eastern falls to 2-7 in OVC play and 6-13 overall. They start their next two game series on Thursday, Oct. 24 against Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Panthers will be back in Groniger Arena on Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. to play Little Rock.
Bryce Parker can be reached at at 581-2812 or at baparker2@eiu.edu.
