With Eastern’s 3-0 (20-25, 22-25, 21-25) loss to Tennessee State Tuesday evening in Groniger Arena they have officially been eliminated from OVC tournament contention.  

The Panthers needed to sweep Tennessee State to get the last tournament bid. 

“I think our win today was a lot of grit, a lot of team effort,” Tennessee State head coach Donika Sutton said. “We’re working to try to find consistency. I think they did a really good job with that.” 

The outlier for the Panthers was their number of attack errors, 27. Which isn’t the most they’ve had in a match this season. They’ve won twice with more. However, both times they won their opponent had more or close to the same amount. The Tigers only had 16. 

“I got to give it to Tennessee State because they played heck a of defensive game,” Thomas said. “We tried everybody.” 

TSU’s defense had 14 blocks – double the amount EIU. And 55 digs – 10 more than the Panthers. 

Eastern scored the first point of the match.  Then Tennessee State went on a 6-point run and the Panthers wouldn’t regain the lead. 

The Tigers ended the set with a three-point run that was finished off with two-back-two attack errors by junior outside hitter Matilda Dahlström that were blocked by senior opposite hitter Jayla Holcombe, one which was a block assist graduate opposite hitter Storm White. 

The second set started off going back and forth until EIU pulled away 11-5 with five and four point runs. 

The Tigers went on a four and five point run of their own to tie it up and then eventually pull away 17-16. They wouldn’t give the lead back. 

Eastern gave TSU a challenge by going on a four-point run while the Tigers had set point, but graduate middle blocker Maggie Keenan would finish it off with a kill for TSU. 

The third set was even until it was tied up 15-15, then the Tigers would go on a seven point runs. 

Despite a couple runs of their own and getting within one point, Eastern wouldn’t regain the lead. Holcombe would finish off the last two plays with a kills. She had 12 kills in the game. 

Despite tomorrow’s game not having any playoff implications it still means a lot to both coaches. 

“We play for EIU, we play for each other, and that we can finish season on a win, and not every can say that,” Thomas said. “To keep trusting the process of long-term development, which got us to where we were last year.” 

Eastern won the conference regular season and tournament last year.  

While Sutton said her team needs to keep up the consistency they showed this game, next game. 

The two teams will face off again on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Groniger Arena. 

Bryce Parker can be reached at at 581-2812 or at baparker2@eiu.edu.