RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky, which has beaten three 2025 NCAA Tournament teams on its way to a 6-2 start to the season, will play its first home match of the season on Tuesday against Marshall at Baptist Health Arena.
 
T-shirts and posters will be given away.  The match will begin at 6 p.m. and air live on ESPN+.
 
THE COLONELS
-  EKU moved to 6-2 on the season after winning two of three against a tough field at the Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic over the weekend.
 
-  Eastern Kentucky played three matches against three teams that ended the 2025 season ranked in the NCAA RPI Top-50.  The field included WKU (#30), Pepperdine (#44) and James Madison (#47).  Eastern beat WKU (3-1) and JMU (3-2).  WKU played in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.  This season Pepperdine beat RV Villanova (3-1), won a set against No. 10 Creighton (1-3) and beat Arizona (3-2).  This season JMU won a set against No. 19 North Carolina (1-3).  Western beat Pepperdine & James Madison before falling to Eastern.
 
-  The Colonels are the only team in the United Athletic Conference to beat a team this season that was ranked in the NCAA RPI Top-50 at the end of last season.  EKU has played five matches against such teams and won four of them [Utah State (#21), Western Kentucky (#30), South Florida (#46) and James Madison (#47)].  No other UAC team has played more than two such teams.
 
-  Since the start of the 2023 season, the Colonels are a combined 70-30.
 
-  Emilee Hill is now seventh in program history with 2,186 career assists.  Emily Leath (1992-95) is sixth on the list with 2,207 assists.  Hill is 354 assists away from the top-5.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
-  Marshall started the season 5-1 before losing two matches over the weekend in Durham, North Carolina.  The Thundering Herd lost 3-1 at Duke and then suffered a 3-1 loss against Belmont.  
 
-  Maddie Smith leads the team with 3.52 kills per set while hitting .352.  She has made only 26 errors in 216 total attempts.  The 6-foot outside hitter played her first two seasons at Appalachian State. 
 
-  Beatrice Ciccarelli averages a team-best 1.07 blocks per set.
 
-  Five players average 2.28 kills or more per set.  As a team, Marshall is sixth in the nation with an average of 14.72 kills per set. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
-  EKU is 23-10 all-time against Marshall.  The teams met for the first time in 1971 and have played each of the last four seasons. 
 
-  The Colonels have won four straight in the series, including a 3-2 victory in Huntington last season.  The two teams last met in Richmond on Sept. 5, 2023, with EKU winning 3-0.