EIU volleyball swept a two-game series against Morehead State last week at Gardella Family Court. 

Thursday’s straight set victory moved the Panthers (20-6, 14-2) into a tie for first place, and made Friday’s game determine who would take sole control of first place.  

It was Eastern that won on Friday in four sets, and the team set itself up for a scenario where all the Panthers need to do to clinch the 1-seed and host the OVC tournament is beat Tennessee Tech once. 

Here are four takeaways from Friday’s matchup against the Eagles: 

1. EIU should win the OVC championship. 

The Panthers are undefeated at their new arena, Gardella Family Court at McAfee Gym, and if they win one of two games against Tennessee Tech in the final series on Tuesday and Wednesday, they will win the regular season title and host the OVC championships there. 

Head coach Ryan Millar said having the tournament at home will be super beneficial. 

“I think it’s just the familiarity with McAfee, and the familiarity with Gardella Family Court,” head coach Ryan Millar said. “I think the way the girls show up in front of a home crowd, the energy in here that is happening night in and night out when we’re home. We’re just really comfortable in here, so it’s a little bit easier to kind of play a little bit more free when you know what to expect by way of lighting, the floor and the fans.” 

Millar acknowledges that the conference tournament is do or die with its single elimination format.  

The first and second seeds have won nine out of the last 10 championships. And EIU just beat the likely second seed. 

Plus, the Panthers would be at home in a season where they went undefeated at home for the first time since 2013. 

2. Senior setter Catalina Rochaix is the heart of Eastern’s offense. 

She had 45 assists on Friday and surpassed the 1,000-assist mark on the season. Her performance this season is good for top five in NCAA division one play in assists per set. 

In the series against Morehead State, Rochaix had 84 assists one week after having 76 in the series against Tennessee State which earned her OVC Setter of the Week honors. 

But how does this make her the heart of the offense? 

Because in the setter role, she’s the commander of the offense. She spreads the ball around to the hitters. 

“[Rochaix] is the one running our offense,” sophomore outside hitter Katie Kopshever said. “She makes the right decisions at the right times, puts all of our hitters in a great spot and really helps our offense a lot.”

Millar echoed Rochaix’s importance to the team. 

“Her overall volleyball intelligence is just off the charts,” Millar said. “You see it in matches like these where it comes to crunch time, it’s almost like intuitive, she knows exactly what to do, the right play and who to set.” 

3. EIU volleyball’s culture change has flourished. 

The new coaching staff has brought a newfound energy to the team.  

Millar has an educational and professional background in culture management and has implemented that in his coaching.  

He said that the team has new guidelines to keep consistent. 

 “We’ve established some cultural guidelines in regard to how we show up on the court and how we show up to practice and they’ve done a really good job of living those,” Millar said. 

So, what is their secret?  

“We’re keeping it simple and celebrating everything,” senior middle blocker Emma Schroeder said. 

4. ‘Red Destiny’ is hard to stop. 

In the last set, sophomore outside hitter Destiny Walker had 10 kills with a 90 percent hitting percentage. 

“I was mad, and honestly that’s what it came from,” Walker said. “My team was depending on me, and I had to do what was needed.”  

Millar calls her unleashing her anger ‘Red Destiny.’ 

“I often times, when she starts off a little slow, have to kind of pull her aside and be like, ‘I need a little Red Destiny,’” Millar said. “Because I need her to get a little bit fired up and get mad a little bit, because I feel like she actually plays a little bit better. You saw in that last set she kind of was taking it personal that she wasn’t quite playing the way that she thought that she should.” 

In the first three sets, she had seven kills. 

 Bryce Parker can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].