After a strong showing last weekend at the Pepsi/Super 8 Invitational, the women’s volleyball team failed to capitalize on the positive momentum losing all three games to the St. Louis Billikens Tuesday night at Lantz Arena.

The Panthers dropped a close first game 30-24, after the Billikens scored nine of the final 13 points to run away from the Panthers. Trailing for the majority of the first game, Eastern rallied to tie the game at 18 before an attack error by outside hitter Mary Welch started the Panthers’ slide. During the run, the Billikens’ Ashley Hunter served five consecutive winners and outside hitter Alyson Merchant ended the game with a kill.

The Billikens were in complete control of the second game winning 30-22. St. Louis ran off a string of 13 winners in 18 points to put away the Panthers.

The Panthers played their best during the third game, but ultimately succumbed 30-28. Junior Erica Gerth helped the Panthers to a 15-10 lead after four straight service winners including one service ace during the stretch.

“Erica led us in kills and had a very nice night,” Head coach Brenda Winkeler said.

Unfortunately, the Panthers could not feed off Gerth’s strong play. Despite leads of 15-10 and 20-15, Eastern let the game slip away when Saint Louis won nine of 10 points during a critical stretch late in the game.

“They dug a lot of balls (in game 3) and we lost patience,” Winkeler said. “We had some good shots, but they would send the ball back over and that cost us a lot of errors.”

“Our hitting percentage (.067) was the poorest of the season, and we just had a problem with ball control. We couldn’t spread out the ball to our hitters and we had a rough night.”

Winkeler said the Panthers must take something from each game including those ending in defeat.

“Every loss we need to learn from,” Winkeler said. “This game was a non-conference game and we are preparing for conference. We have a tournament this weekend so we can only go forward there and examine it.”

The Panthers received a solid performance, both on the court and off, from freshman setter Leanne Kreps. The Forsyth native had nine assists, one service ace and nine digs in just her fourth collegiate contest.

“Leanne has done a really nice job for us,” Winkeler said. ” One of the qualities she has that is rare among freshman is her ability to be a leader. Leadership means telling people like it is and motivating them. She can do that.”

Despite the loss, Winkeler was impressed with the play of sophomore Sarah Niedospial. The outside hitter had five kills, six sets, 11 digs and attributed 6.5 points during the series.

“Sarah played very, very well tonight,” Winkeler said. “She is someone who can come out every game and give us a solid effort.”

On the flip side, junior middle hitter Shanna Ruxer struggled against the Billikens contributing just three kills and three digs with a shooting percentage of .111.

“Shanna didn’t have a very good game for us,” Winkeler said. “She’s had a lot better nights for us in the past.”