Box Score I Live Stats I Live Broadcast (ESPN3) (Semifinals)

MOREHEAD, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky, the No. 6 seed, beat third seeded Eastern Illinois, 3-2, in the first round of 2013 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament on Thursday.

The Colonels will play in the OVC Tournament semifinals on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern will face seventh seeded SIU Edwardsville, who knocked off No. 2 Belmont 3-1.

The victory is the first in the conference tournament for EKU since beating Southeast Missouri, 3-0, on Nov. 19, 2005. The Colonels had lost five straight tournament matches.

Eastern Kentucky won by scores of 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 24-26 and 15-8.

Ashley Edmond led Eastern Kentucky (18-15) with 19 kills. She made only four errors in 46 attempts for a .326 attack percentage. She also had 24 digs and four service aces.

Alexis Plagens had 15 kills and seven aces. Rachel Vick added 14 kills and a .333 attack percentage. Dena Ott posted a match-high 35 digs.

EKU used a 10-2 run to pull away in the first set. Edmond got it started and broke an 11-11 tie with a kill. Plagens ended the run with a kill for a 21-13 lead. Vick's kill finished off the first set and staked the Colonels to a 1-0 lead.

After the Panthers tied the match 1-1, Eastern Kentucky never trailed in the third set on its way to a 2-1 lead. A kill by Ally Peters finished off a 25-22 win in the set. The two teams were tied 24-24 late in the fourth set before EIU staved off elimination with a kill by Stephanie Arnold and an EKU attack error.

Eastern Illinois scored the first point of the decisive fifth set, but the Colonels rolled off five straight. A kill by Edmond made it 7-3 and an ace from the senior pushed the margin to 10-5. Vick put the match away with a kill for a 15-8 victory in the fifth.

EKU had seven fewer kills and four fewer blocks, but the Colonels served up 17 aces compared to only two for the Panthers.

Reynae Hutchinson had a match-best 21 kills for Eastern Illinois (18-12). Stephanie Wallace contributed 30 digs.