The consistency was there for the Eastern volleyball team, but the results did not follow.

The Panthers had more kills, a higher hitting percentage and more blocks that Austin Peay on Saturday afternoon in Lantz Arena, but the Panthers lost the match in straight sets to fall to 0-2 in the OVC so far this season. The Governors improved to 2-0 in the conference.

It was just the second time this season that the Panthers had more kills than their opponent and also the second time they had a higher hitting percentage. It was the first time they did so in the same match.

Eastern and Austin Peay had the same number of assists (40) and digs (64) in the match and each team had three players score in double figures.

The only area where Austin Peay visibly outplayed Eastern was service errors. The Panthers made seven service errors and the Governors only made two. Five of the seven Eastern errors came in the first two sets, which were decided by a total of four points.

“It doesn’t win or lose the match, but it definitely a mood killer when you have so many service errors,” Eastern head coach Julie Allen said. “There’s a few points that we’re missing, but as the team gets more confident, we realize that we outworked (Austin Peay).”

In practice, Allen has said all season that the team is working on increasing and stabilizing their kill numbers. Saturday’s match was the Panthers’ most productive and consistent match by far in terms of kills per set.

They averaged 14.67 kills per set, 3.81 above their season average coming in to the match. Eastern also spread out the kills more evenly from set to set, recording 15, 15 and 14 kills in each set.

“I’m very proud of (the team) for taking what we’ve done and learned in practice and applied it to games,” Allen said.

Freshman Ireland Hieb led the Panthers in kills with 12 and finished second in points with 13, behind only Katie Sommer with 14.5 points. Hieb and fellow freshman Sarah Paluch have seen a lot of playing time in their first collegiate seasons, playing the seventh and eighth-most sets on the team respectively this season.

“They are doing a phenomenal job making strides everyday in practice, earning their spot and playing time,” Allen said. “The team has really begun to trust them and push them do even do more.”

Paluch tied for fourth on the team in digs on Saturday with eight, but there was a stretch in the second set where she seemed to dive and lunge in every possible direction in an attempt to keep the ball off the ground.

She said that she thinks remaining level-headed and confident is the most important thing for her to do to succeed at the college level.

“It’s a truly different level. It’s a lot faster, it’s a lot harder,” she said. “But as long as you maintain your composure and keep it in your mind that you’re confident in yourself, that’s been the biggest adjustment for me.”

Hieb said that she also thinks remaining steady has helped her this season.

“At the beginning of the season I was super nervous,” Hieb said. “But now I’m settling in and the girls are really supportive and helping me relax and stuff.”

Eastern senior Maggie Runge’s 12 points in the match were the third-most on the team and tied with Sommer for the team lead with four blocks. She said that she thinks the team lacked a sense of urgency early on.

“I feel like we just got after it a little bit too late in the game,” she said. “I think that’s a big factor. If we had just started in the beginning, I think things would’ve ended a little differently for us.”

A slow start in the second set saw Eastern trailing 20-12, and despite scoring 12 of the next 18 points, the deficit was too much to overcome.

Going forward, Runge said that she thinks playing Murray State and Austin Peay, the two best teams in the OVC last season, to open conference play could be something to build on going forward.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to take what we learned from them and see more of what the OVC has to offer and keep pushing through.”

The Panthers play again Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the road against Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

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