After splitting its matches last weekend, the Eastern volleyball team did the same this weekend against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State putting their record at 10-4.

The Panthers got off to a winning start by defeating Eastern Kentucky 3-1 on Friday putting their win streak at two, but that came to a quick end after a loss to Morehead State 3-2 on Saturday.

Senior Chelsea Lee’s 15 plus kill streak continued as she earned 15 kills against Eastern Kentucky and 19 against Morehead State tying her season high. She has had four straight matches with 15 or more kills.

Coach Sam Wolinski said it was a solid win for the team on the road.

The Panthers were also able to get some points off the block at some big moments according to Wolinski. Eastern had four assisted blocks to go along with five solo blocks.

Each set that the Panthers played was close as the biggest win margin was four. Eastern and EKU went back and forth with the first three sets but Eastern finished it off in the fourth set 25-23.

Freshman Taylor Smith led the way in assists getting 31 out of 40 total assists for the Panthers. Senior Stephanie Wallace led with 11 digs.

Wolinski was also happy with how their serving game was able to help the Panthers throughout the match.

“Great to pick up our 10^th OVC match (win) especially in these last two weeks of conference play,” Wolinski said.

Morehead State was able to get the fifth set win against Eastern 15-12 in another very close battle.

It was all tied up at 11 in the fifth set but Morehead State got three straight points to give them a 14-11 lead. Eastern would make it 14-12 but it wasn’t enough as Morehead got the final point to win the match.

Wolinski said that it was unfortunate that the Panthers had to find themselves on the losing side of a tough battle.

But once again the Panthers’ block game was able to get them some points led by red-shirt sophomore Josie Winner. Winner had 11 assisted blocks.

Lee also led the way getting her 19 kills; Smith led the way earning 50 out of 55 total kills. Wallace led the way with 18 digs.

Although the Panthers had some high points in the match, Wolinski said the team will need to improve on their serve-receive game in this week’s practice.

The Panthers will return home on Wednesday to take on Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in Lantz Arena and Tennessee State to finish off the regular season.

“It will be nice to be back at home this week before the OVC tournament,” Wolinski said.

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]