The spring season has been one of adjustment for the Panther volleyball team which competed in four tournaments this offseason.

Gone from last year’s team are seniors Kim Blackwell, Gen Ramos and Erin Morrison which not only mean filling important holes at setter and outside hitter, but changing the team’s style of offense.

“We’ve made the change from a 6-2 offense to a 5-1 offense,” head coach Brenda Winkeler said. “And what that means is that we only have one right side hitter when we used to have two, so that changes our passing formations and that also means we only have one setter now.

Winkeler said that change has meant junior Carrie Stevens and sophomore Karen Liss have had more expanded passing roles.

“Carrie Stevens has been playing the role of a passer and that’s definitely been different for her,” Winkeler said. “Karen Liss has really stepped up her passing and she’ll probably be doing the majority of the passing for us next season.”

With junior Amy Heimann out all spring because of shoulder surgery, sophomore Colette Walz saw a more expanded role this spring.

“Colette is a player that hadn’t played a whole lot before and saw a lot of action this spring,” Winkeler said. “She played well this spring in our first three tournaments.”

The offseason concluded for the volleyball team this past weekend when it hosted their annual spring invite. Eastern went 2-2 in the tournament, defeating Parkland College and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and falling to Western Illinois and Southeast Missouri State.

“Even though we went 2-2 in the tournament, I felt we did play well even in the matches we did lose,” Winkeler said. “We had some very, close games and overall, it was a good finish to the spring season.”

The spring also marked the first time Eastern played under the new NCAA rules that will go into effect next season. The NCAA has adapted rally scoring, in which teams can score on both offense and defense rather than the traditional side out scoring. Let serves, when the ball hits the net and still goes over, will also be allowed next season.

“We used the new offensive system this spring and we did a good job with that,” Winkeler said. “It’s very exciting, but it means we have to minimize our errors not just when we’re trying to side out.”

Winkeler said she didn’t like the idea of the new scoring system, at first but it has grown on her and the players this spring.

“At first the players and my reaction was negative because they were changing a game that had been the same so long,” she said. “But the more we played it, the more we all got excited about it.

“I think the big thing is it will be more exciting for the fans and having the let serve will make things more exciting,” Winkeler said. “I think it will really help the sport and its fan base.”

Middle hitter Leslie Przekwas, who received All-OVC honors last season, remains a mainstay for the Panthers, leading the tournament in kills last weekend.

Przekwas has also been a major reason why Eastern’s blocking defense improved greatly this spring.

“Definitely this spring we became a much better blocking

team,” Winkeler said. “We definitely need to work on our consistency because the sport is so different now. It’s was a good spring, but we still have a lot of things to work on for next season.”