With more than a week’s worth of rest, the Eastern volleyball team is ready to get back on the court. The Panthers (4-2) will shoot for a fifth straight win on Tuesday when they travel to IUPU-Indianapolis.

Despite the respite, head coach Brenda Winkeler is confident that her squad won’t need to shake off any cobwebs.

“After getting back from a long road trip we had a chance to get rested and get caught up at school work,” said Winkeler in reference to Eastern’s Alaska trip to compete in the Nanook Classic.

“It came at a very good time for us, we got a chance to improve on some things that we wanted to improve on.”

The down time was extended as Saturday’s match against Ohio Valley Conference foe Austin Peay State was postponed in the wake of Tuesday’s national tragedy. Winkeler said the match will most likely be re-scheduled for some time in November.

Winkeler said the Tennessee-Martin-Morehead State match was the only Division I volleyball contest this weekend.

The Jaguars enter Tuesday’s match with a 1-6 record and have been out-blocked 57-35. The team has a collective hitting percentage of .131 to its opponents’ .271.

IUPU-Indianapolis is led by Rebekah Pallikan, who is averaging 3.27 kills per game. Erica Kulma leads the Jaguars’ defense with 3.40 digs per game.

Winkeler said those weaknesses should play in Eastern’s favor.

“We feel that we should be able to do well,” she said. “We’ve scouted them well and we feel that we should be able to transition well against them.”

While on paper the numbers are in Easten’s favor, the squad isn’t concerened with picking up a win against the non-conference foe. Instead, the focus is on improvement.

“It’s always the main goal to win,” said Winkeler. “Whether or not it’s a conference or non-conference opponent we want to win. But we also need to get better and not worry about what the other teams in the conference are doing.”

The team will look to improve on its blocking ability on Tuesday, as it has for the last few games.

“It may sound like something simple, but we want them to make sure they press their hands over the net to make a strong block,” Winkeler said.

The rest of the conference is shaping up to be a dog fight, as Morehead State has already picked up two wins in the league.

The Eagles, who were picked to finish sixth in the OVC preseason coaches’ poll, defeated Tennessee-Martin (No. 1 in the poll) and Murray State (No. 5 in the poll).

“It’ll be an interesting conference season, but then it always is,” said Winkeler.