Eastern volleyball team goes 0-3 in EIU Panther Invitational to open season

Adam Tumino

The Eastern volleyball team opened their season with the EIU Panther Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Lantz Arena. The Panthers lost all three of their matches to begin the year.

Memphis went 3-0, Drake went 2-1 and South Dakota State went 1-2 in the invitational. Many of Eastern’s sets over the weekend were close until the end and featured numerous lead changes and ties.

 

Eastern vs. South Dakota State, Friday Aug. 30, 6 p.m.

Eastern sophomore Bailey Chandler sets up teammate Maggie Runge for a kill opportunity in the Panthers’ match against South Dakota State on Friday. The Panthers lost the match 3-1.

A dramatic third and fourth sets saw Eastern fall just short against South Dakota State, losing 3-1 to the Jackrabbits. In the final two sets alone, there were 19 ties and nine lead changes.

Eastern won the first set with relative ease (25-18) and South Dakota State did the same in the second set (25-15). The final two sets were back-and-forth affairs from the first serves.

The Panthers dropped both sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-23, falling to 0-1 on the season. South Dakota State improved to 1-1 with the victory.

The third set was tied nine times as neither team pulled ahead early. In fact, the score was tied at one, two, three, four, five and six points before South Dakota took the lead at 7-6. The Jackrabbits led by as many as four points and were up 12-8 before Eastern came back to tie the set at 13.

It would also be tied at 14 and 15 points until South Dakota State pulled ahead for good, fighting off a late rally by the Panthers to go up 2-1 in the match.

In the decisive fourth set, Eastern led 7-6 after the score had already been tied five times. Then the Jackrabbits went on a 5-0 run to take an 11-7 lead. Eastern head coach Julie Allen called a timeout, and soon after the Panthers climbed back to tie the score at 18.

The teams were also tied at 19, 20 and 21, but South Dakota State held on to win 25-23.

“I though it was a great battle. We fought for every point,” Allen said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better battle for a first match from a young team, getting in there and being aggressive the whole time.”

Eastern senior Katie Sommer led the Panthers with a career-high 19 kills for 20 points, leading all players in both categories.

Freshman Ireland Hieb finished with 7.5 points in her first collegiate match, registering seven kills and one block assist.

“There was a lot of nerves,” Hieb said, “but the team definitely helped me through it.”

Hieb said that, though she of course would have liked to pick up a win, she was happy with her performance overall.

“I think I did a good job encouraging and being loud with the girls, and just being the outlet to get kills and be that reliable source,” she said.

 

Eastern vs. Memphis, Saturday Aug. 31, 11 a.m.

Eastern’s Kylie Michael dives forward to play the ball against Memphis on Saturday in Lantz Arena. The Tigers won the match 3-0.

In their second match of the EIU Panther Invitational, Eastern lost in straight sets to Memphis and fell to 0-2 on the season.

The match was the third and final one for Memphis, which went 3-0 in the invitational.

The Panthers made each set closer than the last, but lost 25-16, 25-18 and 25-21 to the Tigers.

After leading 3-2 in the first set, Eastern could not stop multiple runs by Memphis, which led by as many as 10 points on multiple occasions.

The Panthers managed to deny Memphis on back-to-back set points to put the deficit in single digits, but the Tigers held on.

The two teams exchanged points in the second set, much like Eastern and South Dakota State did in the third and fourth sets the night before.

The score was tied seven times in set two until Memphis grabbed a 9-8 lead and did not trail again. The Panthers would not go away, however, and pushed the score to 19-17 before Memphis closed out the set on a 6-1 run.

The third set, despite having the closest final score, was tied just three times, only once more than the first set.

Eastern managed to hang around longer after falling behind. They also denied Memphis on match point three times but could only get to within four points by the end.

Memphis left Lantz Arena with perfect record to begin the season. Last season, the Tigers finished in last place in the American Athletic Conference with a conference record of 4-14, going 11-19 overall. They lost their final seven matches of the season.

Memphis head coach Sean Burdette, now in his second season with the team, said he was happy to be heading home after a strong showing in the invitational.

“It’s always exciting when you can get home and play in front of things that are familiar,” Burdette said. “I also think it’s great to get on the road and test yourself right off the bat like we did this weekend. It was a very competitive tournament.”

After the disappointing finish to last season, Burdette said that the work put in after last season helped make a difference.

“I think it all stems back to last winter and our offseason, and how hard our players worked,” he said.

Meredith Wallace, a sophomore outside hitter for Memphis, led all players with 14 points. She was one of three Tigers to score in double-figures.

Memphis also had 13 errors in the match, which was three fewer than the Panthers. Eastern head coach Julie Allen said that she thinks that is an area where the team can improve.

“I think Memphis is a great opponent. They did a good job managing their errors,” she said. “We need to keep growing in that avenue. We’re doing a good job of learning when we need to take hard swings.”

Senior Maggie Runge led Eastern with 11.5 points and 10 kills. Runge, who finished second in the OVC in blocks last year, also had three block assists.

Hieb had 7.5 points for the second straight match to start her career and had the third-most points on the team.

 

Eastern vs. Drake, Saturday Aug. 31, 6 p.m.

Eastern freshman Ireland Hieb prepares to receive a serve in the Panthers’ match against Drake on Saturday evening. Heib had 20.5 points in the match, which Eastern lost 3-1 to the Bulldogs.

The dramatic, back-and-forth nature of Eastern’s first match returned in its third match, after being mostly absent in the match in between.

Despite the competitive play, Eastern fell once again, losing 3-1 to Drake to close out the EIU Panther Invitational.

The Panthers won the first set of the match, their first set victory since the first set of the season against South Dakota State on Friday evening. Eastern did not trail in the set after going ahead 12-11.

The second set was close early, but Drake took control and won 25-17, leading by as many as nine points along the way. Then the third and fourth sets happened.

Much like the third and fourth sets against South Dakota State, neither team seemed to lead for long.

The lead changed hands five times and was tied 13 times, surpassing the 10 ties from the fourth set against South Dakota State. The five lead changes were the most since the third set against the Jackrabbits, which also saw five lead changes.

The fourth set broke both of these numbers, featuring six lead changes and 14 ties.

Eastern tied Drake at 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 before the two Panther errors gave Drake the set and the match with a 27-25 win.

“We made back-to-back errors at the end, but I’m really proud of the aggressive swings that we had,” Allen said. “Because we’re playing hard and aggressively, we’re going to make a few errors, but we’re going make amazing plays.”

The Panthers had more blocks than their opponent in every match this weekend, recording 23 blocks in the three matches compared to 18 by the other teams. Eastern had the fourth-most blocks in the OVC last season.

“We’re doing a really good job right now serving aggressively, which allows our blockers to get into a better position,” Allen said.

Individually, Hieb continued her high level of play, leading the team with 35.5 points in the invitational, including 20.5 in the final match. Sommer finished with 29.5 overall. Hieb’s 20.5 single-match score was also just ahead of Sommer’s 20 from Friday.

Allen said she was happy with Hieb’s contribution but was quick to point out that she would not have been as successful without her teammates.

“You’ve got to give kudos to everyone who is playing, because if they weren’t playing at their best it wouldn’t open up doors for her,” Allen said. “She’s taking advantage of that, and that’s a great job from a young player.”

Behind Hieb and Sommer in the scoring was Runge with 29 points. She also had six blocks.

The Panthers will continue their season on the road on Sept. 6 and 7 in the Central Michigan Chippewa Invitational. They will play Central Michigan, Illinois-Chicago and North Dakota State.

 

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].