With storms approaching Charleston Friday night, delaying the Charleston vs. Mattoon high school football game at O’Brien Field, fans flocked to Lantz Arena to escape the rain — especially those of the Mattoon Green Wave.

Roaring fans clad in green and gold cheered on Mattoon native Reynae Hutchinson — complete with chants of “Let’s go Hutch” — for her volleyball team’s conference-opening match against Southeast Missouri.

The junior outside hitter said it felt good to have such a crowd for the team’s home-opener.

“It was good to see that big of a crowd out here — not just for me, but for the whole team,” Hutchinson said. “When we came out that first set we were ready to go because we had such a big crowd.”

Hutchinson had five kills and 11 digs in the match.

“We were all really excited to be at home on our home court,” Hutchinson said. “Anyone gets excited for their home opener, so we were that much more excited to be playing at home.”

Unfortunately, a huge crowd did not equal a win for the Panthers, who lost in four sets to the Redhawks.

The Panthers came out with energy and were ready to go in the first set, winning 25-19, but lost their momentum as the match went on, seeing the Redhawks take over for the rest of the match (25-16, 25-21, 25-21).

“I didn’t think we would make as many errors as we did,” head coach Kate Price said. “I think I would expect us to defend our house a little bit more. But SEMO is a good team and they’ve beaten good teams and I think they’ll continue to (beat good teams).”

The Panthers more than doubled the Redhawks errors, making 26 to their 12.

“We’ve got a lot of things to work on,” Hutchinson said. “Each individually and as a team. We experienced it through preseason that we start out strong and kind of just coast the rest. That was a perfect example tonight.”

The same outcome happened in Saturday’s match against Tennessee-Martin. The Panthers came out ready to go and looked more organized in the first set, and won it 25-20, but fell to the Skyhawks for the next three sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-21).

Freshman Abby Saalfrank notched her third and fourth triple-doubles over the weekend, as she had 16 kills, 25 assists and 16 digs against Southeast Missouri. In the latter match, she posted 16 kills, 16 assists and 10 digs, leading her squad in kills in both matches.

Red-shirt sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Brooke led the team in digs with 23 against Southeast Missouri and 22 against Tennessee-Martin.

“We just have to keep pushing,” Hutchinson said. “That’s one of the biggest things.”

With the losses, the Panthers drop to 0-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 3-11 overall. They will be back in action at 7 p.m. on Sept. 25 against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on the road.

Ashley Holstrom can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].