The Eastern volleyball team will look to continue its winning ways as it travels to Indianapolis to take on Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Tuesday night.

Both teams head into play with modest win streaks. The Jaguars have reeled off three wins in their last four matches after a four-match losing streak. Eastern has won three straight matches after suffering a nine-match losing streak that spanned over three weeks.

With both teams playing well heading into the non-conference tilt, IUPUI head coach Steve Payne anticipates a good showdown between the two teams.

“I really think we match up about equal to Eastern,” Payne said. “We’ve played two common opponents (Southeast Missouri State and Morehead State) and we won the matches against SEMO and lost to Morehead State. Based on that it should be a good match.”

When reviewing film on the Jaguars, Eastern coach Brenda Winkeler noticed IUPUI has played like two different teams this season.

“IUPUI is a team that has some good wins and some bad losses this year,” Winkeler said.

One item about the Jaguars Winkeler noticed was the play of their outside, most notably seniors Tiffany Holladay and Rebekah Pallikan.

“They really have good outside hitters in Holladay and Pallikan,” Winkeler said. “Pallikan averages five kills a game so she is someone we will look at stopping.”

For the season, Pallikan has 300 blocks in 60 games played, along with 21 service aces and a hitting percentage of .240. Holladay doesn’t put up the eye-opening statistics Pallikan has, but the Hymera, Ind., native has been solid with 180 kills and a hitting percentage of .226 in 57 games. Both players have earned praise from Payne for their work on and off the volleyball court this year.

“Rebekah is our leader in kills and a team leader,” Payne said. “So we expect a lot out of her and teams often look to shut her down. Tiffany is another senior leader for us who has played well the last few games.”

Proving Payne’s statement, in the last two games Pallikan and Holladay have both hit more than .400 percent in the two wins.

With the Panthers in for a battle against IUPUI, the team will need to be at its best and that all starts with junior outside hitter Erica Gerth. After being named as the Ohio Valley Conference defensive player of the week for Sept. 30, after a school-record 39 dig performance against Austin Peay, Gerth has gone offensive, recording 23 and 22 kills in matches against SEMO and Tennessee State respectively.

Her week’s accomplishments also earned her co-offensive player of the week in the Ohio Valley Conference with Morehead State’s Casie Garland.

“The difference in Erica’s play this year is that she is a junior,” Winkeler said. “She was good as a freshman and sophomore, but is really putting things together this year.”

For the season, Gerth is averaging 4.20 kills per game, tops in service aces with 27 and has the second-highest hitting percentage at .242. In OVC play Gerth has stepped up her game to tune of 5.18 kills per game and a hitting percentage of .271 in four conference matchups.

Middle hitter Shanna Ruxer also has gone on a hot streak since the OVC season started. The sophomore is third in kills with an average of 2.82 and is hitting .289 in conference compared to .197 during the non-conference games.

After the Panthers face IUPUI Tuesday night, Eastern will be on the road the next two games for conference battles with Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech on Friday and Saturday.