EIU volleyball started strong again, winning the first two sets in a 3-1 victory over UT Martin (25-12, 25-14, 20-25, 25-21) Friday evening at Gardella Family Court at McAfee Gym.
The Panthers (16-6, 10-2) won the first two sets and closed it out in the fourth set after losing the third.
Sophomore outside hitter Destiny Walker led Eastern with 18 kills, and sophomore outside hitter Katie Kopshever had 16 kills.
Kopshever added four service aces to the five she had in Thursday’s game, giving her nine across the two games.
The Skyhawks (2-21, 1-11) played a bit sloppy in the first set and finished on a negative hitting percentage, making 11 attack errors while the Panthers only made two.
This continued into the second set with the Skyhawks having a zero hitting percentage. They came back the third set, the set they won, and finished with a .058 hitting percentage.
“Our coach always says they’re allowed to make good plays, so just realizing that that’s okay,” Kopshever said. “Not letting it take down our energy and keep pushing through the rest of the game.”
Kopshever did have eight errors, tied for the highest error rate of the game with UT Martin’s Kylie Surratt, but situations like this only caused minor stumble for the Panthers in total.
“We didn’t play as clean as yesterday, but I think that we kept our energy throughout the whole time,” Kopshever said.
Senior setters Catalina Rochaix and Sylvia Hasz each had 25 and 20 assists respectively.
With the team’s win streak extended to eight, head coach Ryan Millar has high hopes for upcoming weekends.
“There’s a lot to take away from this weekend,” Millar said. “We obviously can play at a really high level for a significant chunk of time. We’re really excited about the next few weekends.”
EIU still sits in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference, still creeping behind undefeated Morehead State for first place. Millar would like to see the OVC tournament come to Charleston for a team has its best home record since 2013 at 7-0.
“Would we like to host that? Absolutely. Huge, huge opportunity for us because we’re pretty tough to beat at home. No one has beaten us yet, and we’d like to keep that the way it is,” Millar said.
The Panthers head to Nashville next weekend to continue OVC play for a series against Tennessee State.
The first game of the series is set for a 6 p.m. start.
Kaylee Unruh can be reached at 581-2812 or at kmunruh@eiu.edu.
