The Eastern volleyball team ended its 2014 nonconference schedule on Saturday with a victory over DePaul and a loss to Illinois-Chicago at Penn State.

Junior Stephanie Wallace added her name to the school’s all-time list against DePaul, totaling 31 put-ups, making her the 26th player in school history with 1,000 career digs. Wallace came into the match needing only 11 digs to pass that career mark, but instead tallied a career high in put-ups in the Panthers five-set victory. She later added 24 digs in Saturday’s loss to UIC, to move up to 23rd on the all-time list.

Fellow uunior Chelsea Lee led all players with a career-high of 28 kills against DePaul. She averaged a .407 attack and secured 29.5 points for the Panthers. She finished the tournament as the Panthers’ lone representative on the all-tournament team.

Attackers Abby Saalfrank and Kayla Nesbitt chipped in 13 kills each, with Saalfrank adding 16 digs for another double-double.

The 26th matchup between the two schools featured many ties and lead changes. A total of 21 ties and 13 lead changes resulted in Panther wins of 25-22, 25-15, and 17-15. DePaul took two of those sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-23.

Friday’s action saw a school record broken by newcomer Allie Hueston. The freshman from Anderson, Ind., led Eastern with 13 put-downs and no errors off of 21 attacks in the five-set loss to East Carolina. That set the Eastern record for hitting percentage, as Hueston delivered a .619 clip in the loss.

Lee and Saalfrank registered 13 kills each, with Saalfrank falling just shy of another kill-dig double-double. Freshman Josie Winner also chipped in with 12 kills in the loss to the Pirates.

The second matchup on Friday saw the Panthers take on their head coach, Kate Price’s alma mater, Penn State. The third ranked Nittany Lions got off to a hot start early, taking the first two sets by scores of 25-10 and 25-9, before taking the next set by a score of 25-17.

Lee added six kills to her weekend, while facing her younger sister, Simone, a fellow outside hitter for the Nittany Lions. The younger Lee tied for the highest kills total with ten.

Saalfrank led Eastern with seven kills while Winner chipped in with six put-downs off a .286 attack.

In Friday’s nightcap loss to UIC, Lee once again led the Panthers’ attack with 17 kills, while Saalfrank added 15 put-downs to her weekend. The Flames took the first two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-23, before the Panthers rebounded to take the next set 25-21. UIC would win the next set 25-17.

Eastern begins its OVC season next weekend on the road at Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State.

Blake Nash (@Banash) can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]