Tournament Bracket  |  Live Stats  |  FREE Live Web Cast

MURRAY, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky's volleyball team will open play at the 2014 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed on Thursday in Murray.  The Colonels will face No. 6 Eastern Illinois.
 
The match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET.  The winner will face the winner of the No. 2 Belmont versus No. 7 Austin Peay match in the semifinals.
 
The Colonels finished the regular season 21-13 overall and 11-5 against conference teams.  It is Eastern Kentucky's first 20-win season since capturing a share of the OVC regular season championship in 2005 and finishing 23-7.
 
Eastern Illinois went 14-15 this season with an 8-8 OVC record.  One of those victories was a 3-0 win against the Colonels on Nov. 7 in Charleston.  EKU beat EIU, 3-2, in the first round of last year's OVC Tournament.
 
The Colonels are led by seniors Dena Ott and Alexis Plagens.
 
Ott is second in the conference and 30th in the nation with an average of 5.06 digs per set.  She was named OVC Defensive Player of the Week three times during the season.  On Nov. 12 against Morehead State, Ott broke the EKU record for career digs.  She is now second in OVC history with 2,484, 122 digs behind the league record holder.
 
Plagens, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter, led the team and ranked fourth in the conference with an average of 3.50 kills per set.  She also averaged 2.05 digs per set and served up a team-best 36 aces.
 
Junior Rachel Vick is second on the team with an average of 2.74 kills per set and she is third in the OVC with a .314 attack percentage.
 
Eastern Illinois is led by the play of junior Abby Saalfrank.  The outside hitter averages 3.31 kills and 0.44 blocks per set.  Chelsea Lee is close behind with an average of 3.25 kills per set.  Both have attack percentages above .200.
 
The Panthers won four straight matches before dropping their season finale at Tennessee State by a 3-2 score.