Box Score

Tournament Bracket

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With their backs against the wall, the Colonels won their final four matches of the regular season to earn a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. Eastern Kentucky clinched a tournament berth by defeating Eastern Illinois, 3-2, today in a make-up match in Evansville, Ind.

EKU was playing its third match in as many days, needing to win all three to make the OVC tournament. The Colonels handed Jacksonville State its first conference loss of the season on Friday and then avenged a 3-0 loss earlier this season to Tennessee Tech on Saturday. After the match against Tech, the team boarded a bus for Evansville to play the Panthers.

Autumn Harms led Eastern Kentucky (10-18, 9-9 OVC) with 18 kills. She made only one error in 30 attempts for a .567 attack percentage and had three blocks. Lauren Snyder finished with 14 kills, nine digs and five blocks. Lindsey Loescher and Hannah Groudle each registered 11 kills. Groudle also had six blocks. Kate Hendle posted 51 assists.

Alex Zwettler led Eastern Illinois (11-20, 4-13 OVC) with a match-best 25 kills and hit .327. Melanie Boykins, Erin Hake and Jessica Wheeler each contributed 10 kills. Brittany Wallace had 20 digs.

As a team EKU hit .276, making only 19 errors and finishing with 66 kills. The Panthers hit .184 for the match, totaling 64 kills and 30 errors. Eastern Kentucky held a slim 10-9 edge in blocks.

Playing their third match in three days showed early in the first set as the Colonels started a bit sluggish. A kill by Hake gave the Panthers an early 5-2 lead. A kill by Chrissie Albers made it a four-point margin, 7-3. Zwettler’s kill gave EIU its largest lead, 9-4. Eastern Kentucky scored six of the next seven points to tie the score 10-10. Three Panther attack errors contributed to the run.

Back-to-back Eastern Illinois attack errors gave the Colonels their first lead, 13-12. A kill by Hendle put EKU up by three, 17-14. The Panthers went back on top 20-19 on a kill by Albers. The set was tied four more times before an EIU service error gave Eastern Kentucky set-point, 24-23. On the next series, a kill by Harms ended the set, 25-23, and staked the Colonels to a 1-0 advantage.

Eastern Kentucky scored first in the second set and never trailed. After EIU tied the score 1-1, a Panther service error gave the Colonels the lead for good. An 8-2 run gave EKU complete control. Kills by Harms and Loescher capped the run and gave Eastern Kentucky a 17-9 lead. A kill by Amanda Fago stretched the lead to 23-10. A kill by Groudle ended the set, 25-13, and gave the Colonels a 2-0 advantage.

EKU hit .333 in the second set, finishing with 14 kills and only two errors in 36 total attempts.

The Panthers led 13-7 in the third set after a kill by Boykins. However, Eastern Kentucky went on a 12-4 run to turn a six-point deficit into a two-point advantage. The Colonels reached match-point, 24-21, on a kill by Fago and an EIU attack error, but Eastern Illinois rolled off five straight to stay alive. Back-to-back kills by Zwettler ended the set 26-24.

In the fourth set, Eastern Kentucky jumped out to a 3-0 lead but couldn’t pull away. The set remained close until a 5-0 run pushed the Panthers in front by six, 20-14. The Colonels closed to within two, 22-20, but couldn’t get any closer. Hake’s kill ended the set 25-22, and sent the match to a decisive fifth set.

In the decisive fifth set, Eastern Kentucky jumped out in front 4-1 and never trailed. A kill by Snyder and an EIU attack error made it 11-4 in favor of the Colonels. The Panthers scored four straight to draw within three but wouldn’t get any closer. EKU scored the final four points to win the match. Groudle’s kill was the match-winner.

Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois were originally scheduled to play on Nov. 6 in Charleston, Ill., but that match was postponed.

The Colonels will play as the sixth seed in the OVC tournament and open play on Thursday against third seeded Morehead State at 8 p.m. The tournament will be played on the campus of Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala.