Hopes of gaining the sixth and final spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament ended this weekend for the Eastern volleyball team as the Panthers split a pair of road matches to close out the season.

Eastern started the weekend on a bright note by defeating Tennessee-Martin in five games. The Panthers had to come from behind to get the victory as Tennessee-Martin struck first with a 30-19 win in game one. Tennessee-Martin’s outside hitters Leigh Reiniche (six kills, .500 hitting percentage) and Heather Kea (four kills, .429 hitting percentage) keyed a 17-6 run to allow the Skyhawks to pull away with the game.

Behind a .371 hitting percentage, Eastern cruised to a 30-19 win in game two. The Panthers racked up 16 kills in the game compared to the Skyhawks nine. Eastern’s defense held Tennessee-Martin to a dismal .028 hitting percentage to pick up the win.

The Skyhawks would rebound quickly winning the third game 30-17 to take a 2-1 lead. In the hitting percentage department, it was a complete turnaround with the Skyhawks hitting .440 and the Panthers struggling at .103.

Eastern avoided elimination in game four by squeaking out a 30-24 win in a tightly contested game. The victory sent the Panthers to a deciding game five for the sixth time this season. Eastern was winless in five previous deciding games heading into this weekend, but that statistic would change with a 15-11 victory. The Panthers trailed early, but knotted the score at 10 before ending strong to get the win.

“We were down 9-5 in the fifth game but managed to comeback with a great team effort,” Panthers head coach Brenda Winkeler said. “Tennessee-Martin is a very scrappy team on defense so it was a great win.”

Freshman outside hitter Mary Welch led four Panthers in double-digit kills with 18. Junior Erica Gerth was right behind her with 16 kills and 10 digs.

Eastern’s middle hitters Megan Kennedy and Shanna Ruxer added 13 and 11 kills respectively. Both players had a hitting percentage of over .400 in the five-game win.

Ruxer and Kennedy each had over 200 kills for the season. The duo finished one-two in blocked shots with Ruxer leading the team (20 blocks) and Kennedy (11 blocks) close behind.

“Shanna and Megan did a great job this year,” Winkeler said. “They improved a lot during the season and filled up the middle on defense.”

In match two of the weekend, Eastern traveled to Kentucky to play the red-hot Murray State racers. Winners of six straight matches heading into the contest ,the Racers made short work of Eastern with a three game sweep.

The Panthers played Murray State tight in game one losing 30-27, but then lost the next two games 30-21 and 30-16. Murray State hit .391 in the victory while the Panthers managed just a .165 percentage.

The game marked the final appearance Eastern’s lone senior Chandra Hensley. The outside hitter led the Panthers with a .400 hitting percentage and added three kills and two service aces.

“Chandra played great for us,” Winkeler said. “She dealt with a lot of challenges this year because of injuries, but she came back from that to give us a spark. She was a key performer in our two wins against Tennessee-Martin this year.”

The Panthers missed the OVC tournament for the second year in row with a 6-10 conference record. Eastern needed Murray State to lose its remaining matches for the Panthers to have a shot at the final slot. With the Racers defeating Southeast Missouri on Nov. 15, however, Eastern’s fate was already sealed heading into their final match.

Despite falling short of their goal, Winkeler looked at the road win against Tennessee-Martin as a potential momentum boost for next season because Eastern will return 13 of the team’s 14 members.

“That will definitely boost some confidence for us next year,” Winkeler said. “Tennessee-Martin followed the loss to us with a win against Southeast Missouri which is a really good team. Getting many players back we will use that road win against Tennessee-Martin as confidence.”