RICHMOND, Ky. - On September 28, the Eastern Kentucky volleyball team lost to Eastern Illinois on the road 3-0, on Saturday the Colonels jumped out to a 2-0 lead and finished off the Panthers 3-1 at McBrayer Arena. With her second dig of the match, EKU senior Brittany Nobilio took sole possession of fifth place on the NCAA career digs list.

Game scores were 30-26, 31-29, 26-30 and 30-17. The Colonels improve to 4-21 and 3-12 in Ohio Valley Conference play. EIU falls to 11-14 on the season and 4-12 against league teams.

“There’s always something to play for,” said EKU Head Coach Lori Duncan. “It doesn’t matter what our record is, there’s always something to play for and these girls showed today that they believe that.”

Amanda Wilson led Eastern Kentucky and tied for the match-high with 18 kills. She also posted a .389 attack percentage and had four blocks. Freshman Amanda Fago recorded another double-double, finishing with 17 kills and 10 digs. Bridget Mustard totaled 14 kills, hit .333 and had seven blocks.

“We focused on slowing it down today and that really helped our freshmen,” said Wilson. “We were way overdue for a win. We put it all together today and showed people what kind of team we are.”

EIU’s Alex Zwettler finished with 18 kills and hit .273. Kelsey Orr and Eliza Zwettler added 15 and 11 kills respectively. Lauren Schutte led all players with 53 assists and three service aces.

As a team, the Colonels finished with a .212 attack percentage while Eastern Illinois hit .156.

When Nobilio made her second dig in game one, she moved past Jennifer Alexander (Western Illinois) and took fifth place on the NCAA’s all-time digs list. She finished with 24 digs against the Panthers and now has 2,366 digs during her career. Nobilio needs 59 more to take over fourth place.

“I didn’t know until recently that I was that high on the list,” Nobilio said. “It’s more about the team and winning. Everything is more memorable when we do it as a team and get a win.”

Eastern Kentucky jumped out in front early in game one and took a 9-4 lead on an ace by freshman Kate Hendle. The Panthers clawed back to eventually tie it at 17-17 on a kill by Alex Zwettler and an EKU attack error. On the next play Kirby Barnhart and Mustard blocked an attack by Zwettler and the Colonels took the lead for good. Nobilio’s ace ended the game 30-26 in favor of Eastern Kentucky.

Eastern Illinois grabbed the quick lead in game two. After a block by Zwettler and Lauren Sopcic the Panthers had a 7-point lead, 11-4. The Colonels answered and used a 14-6 run to take a lead of their own. Wilson and Mustard each had two kills during the run and sophomore Abbey Blank served up aces on back-to-back serves. Mustard’s second kill gave EKU its first lead of the game, 18-17.

Eastern Kentucky scored three straight to break a 20-20 tie and remained in front until EIU forced a tie late in the game. After a Panther attack error gave the Colonels game-point, 29-27, Eastern Illinois scored two straight to tie it at 29-29. Mustard secured the game for the home team with a kill followed by a service ace to claim the 31-29 win.

After the first two games, Wilson had 10 kills, made just one attack error in 17 chances and was hitting .529.

Game three saw the score tied seven times before EIU used a late 4-1 run to pull ahead. Two EKU errors contributed to the run and Zwettler’s kill gave the visitors a 27-24 lead. A kill by Orr sent the match into a fourth game.

Sopcic’s kill gave the Panthers a 3-point advantage, 7-4, early in the fourth game. Eastern Kentucky came back to tie it twice. After Fago’s kill tied it for the last time at 10-10, the Colonels used a 7-1 run to put some distance between the two teams. Wilson’s four kills accounted for four of the seven points during the run. An ace by Fago had EKU in front 16-11. Eastern Illinois scored three straight points to end the Colonel run and close the gap to 16-14, but EKU took advantage of six EIU errors to build another 7-1 run.

Eastern Kentucky went in front 23-15 after a Panther ball handling error. Eastern Illinois scored just two more points the rest of the game and Mustard finished off the match with a kill to end game four 30-17. The Colonels ended the match on a 14-3 run.

The Colonels combined for a .452 attack percentage in the fourth game. EIU hit .000 in the final game.

EKU will return to action on Friday when the Colonels host Murray State at McBrayer Arena. The match will begin at 7 p.m.