EIU Volleyball Drops Two Volleyball Matches

After splitting the first two sets in the morning match, EIU went cold in the final two sets losing 3-1 in the opener before falling 3-0 in the night match at the Eblen Center. 

In the matinee Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech split the first two sets of their morning match before the Golden Eagles pulled away in sets three and four to pick up a 3-1 win. 

TTU won 25-22, 19-25, 25-12, 25-16.  

In the opening set, the two teams traded points with TTU building a 21-18 lead.  The Panthers scored four straight points with Laurel Bailey providing a kill and service ace during the run.  Danielle Allen capped a 4-0 EIU run with a kill giving EIU a 22-21 advantage.  A service error and two straight EIU attack errors then gave TTU match point as Taylor Dorsey provided the final kill. 

EIU rallied in the second set with Kameryn Sillmon providing a spark for EIU.  Sillmon would finish the overall match with nine kills on 15 attacks and no errors for an attack percentage of .600.  Three of Sillmon’s kills came in the second set as EIU hit .216 in the set.  The Panthers built a 16-11 lead early in the set and closed out the win on the serve of Elizavet Papageorgiou as EIU closed on a 5-0 run.  Bailey, Sillmon and Kylie Michael had kills in the final five points. 

EIU’s solid hitting went away in sets three and four as EIU had a negative attack percentage in both sets.  The Panthers hit -.029 in the third set and -.113 in the fourth set.  In the third set TTU built a 14-7 lead on serves by Madeline Furtado.  Skylar Boom and Ali Verzani had kills in the Golden Eagles run.  TTU ended the third set on an 8-1 run.  Verzani had a service ace and Boom the final kill of the set. 

In the final set Ashley Hand and Verzani served Tennessee Tech out to an 11-2 lead and they never looked back in closing out the match. Dorsey (14), Boom (11) and Verzani (10) all had double figure kills for TTU.

Ashley Sharkus led EIU with 12 digs in the opening match. 

In the nightcap EIU’s cold attacking continued as TTU swept the second match of the day 3-0.  TTU won 25-22, 25-20, 25-12 as they improved to 2-2 on the season.   EIU fell to 0-4 on the year. 

McKenna Young had the hot serve early for TTU as she served eight straight points to take the Golden Eagles from a one point deficit to a 17-10 lead. 

Verzani had two kills in the run while EIU had four attack errors leading to a .050 attack percentage in the set for EIU.   The Panthers rallied late in the match and closed to 23-22 behind some solid serving.  Papageorgiou dropped in three straight aces to make it a one point set.   Boom and Verzani added back-to-back kills to end EIU’s comeback. 

In the second set, Tennessee Tech again gained an advantage with play in the middle portion of the match as they built a 16-10 lead with a pair of kills each from Verzani and Furtado.  A kill by Sillmon would cut the lead to five points at 19-14 and EIU took advantage of a TTU attack error to close to within four, but could get no closer in the set. 

In the final set, Tennessee Tech jumped out quick to take advantage of the match.  EIU had three attack errors mixed in with a Raya George service ace that handed TTU an 11-4 lead.  Three straight attack errors by the Golden Eagles cut the margin to six at 13-7 but after another short TTU run, the Panthers never got closer than eight points in the final set.  

Bailey finished with ten kills to lead EIU as only she and Ella Collins finished with a positive attack percentage in the match.  The Panthers were held to negative .010 for the match. Christina Martinez Mundo had ten digs while Allen registered four blocks. 

Verzani led Tennessee Tech with 13 kills finishing with a .478 attack percentage in the match.  She added ten digs for a double-double.