Volleyball team drops pair of matches to Bruins

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File Photo | The Daily Eastern News

Eastern outside hitter Danielle Allen connects on a kill attempt in a match against Southeast Missouri on Oct. 9 in Lantz Arena. Allen had 5 kills in the match, which Eastern lost 3-0.

Adam Tumino, Sports Editor

The Eastern volleyball team continued conference season over the weekend with a pair of road matches against Belmont. 

Eastern was up 2-0 Friday before the Bruins won three close sets to win 3-2. Eastern also fell Saturday by a score of 3-1. 

Eastern is now 0-9 in conference play while Belmont improves to 6-4. 

The match Friday seemed to be the Panthers’ best chance to pick up a conference win this season. 

They won the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-20. Belmont came out strong in the third set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before Eastern climbed back into the set and tied the score at 9-9. 

The set was tied 10-10 and 19-19 before Eastern pulled ahead 24-22, one point away from winning the match. 

Belmont then scored 4-straight points to win the set 26-24.

The fourth set was back-and-forth from beginning to end, and saw the Bruins hang on to win the set 27-25, making it back-to-back sets that went beyond regulation scoring. 

The fifth set was another close one, tied 13-13 before the Bruins scored two-straight points to win the set and match. 

Eastern outside hitter Danielle Allen led all players with 24 kills while hitting .333 in the match. Libero Christina Martinez Mundo also set a game-high with 23 digs. 

Eastern outhit Belmont as a team Friday .199 to .187. 

It was the first time in conference play that Eastern has recorded a higher hitting percentage that its opponent. 

On Saturday, Belmont and Eastern exchanged wins in the first two sets before the Bruins won 25-20 and 25-22 to pick up the win. 

Allen added 12 more kills in the match while the Panthers were led by freshman TaKenya Stafford with 14 kills. 

Belmont was led by Laura Shoopman and Lauren Walsh with 15 kills each. 

Eastern will be back at home this weekend with a pair of matches against Morehead State.

The Eagles 7-2 in conference play this season and have won seven matches in a row. 

 

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