The Panthers beat rival Tennessee-Martin in four sets to end the season with a victory.

The Panthers close the season at 11-20 overall and 8-12 in Ohio Valley Conference action.

With an outburst of offense, the Panthers were led by junior Emily Franklin, who had 20 kills and 14 digs for her sixth double-double this season.

Fellow junior Alison Berens had 13 kills, while sophomores Reynae Hutchinson and Stephanie Arnold added nine kills each.

Hutchinson also had a team-high 16 digs while Arnold added eight blocks for the Panther defense.

Before the final match began, seniors Chrissie Albers and Brittany Wallace were honored for their contribution to Eastern’s volleyball team and they both proved that they deserved the honor in their final match as a Panther.

Coming off of being Ohio Valley Conference Co-Setter and Defensive Player of the week, Albers scored her 27th career assist-dig double-double as she dished out 50 assists and 12 digs.

She ends her career as a Panther three short of 2,400 with 2,397 assists.

Wallace, meanwhile, registered 14 digs to end her four-year Panther career as the top full-time libero in school history. 

She ends with 1,459 career digs for a 3.63 digs-per-set average.

Despite losing the first set to Tennessee-Martin, the Panthers rallied back to take the next three and bring home one more victory for the season.

The Panthers led in nearly every category in the win, including kills (56 to 42), assists (54 to 41), digs (64 to 56), blocks (11 to five), and points (73 to 54).

The Panthers now hold an all-time series lead over Tennessee Martin to 21-13 and earned the season split after dropping a three-set match on the road earlier in the season.

Head coach Kate Price said this whole season the team has been seeing what works to the results of the last match, and she said it was nice to see them finish strong.

“We have had some ups and downs this season, but going out with a win can show us that we are a strong competitor,” Price said.

The Panthers are set to return 10 letter-winners from this year’s team for the 2012 season.

Lenny Arquilla can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected].