Eagles Fall to Eastern Illinois in Series Capper

Morehead, Ky-- Morehead State took the opening set convincingly but could not hold off a determined Eastern Illinois squad for the second straight night and fell in four sets (25-18, 14-25, 15-25, 21 25) to the Panthers Friday evening at Gardella Family Court in Charleston, Illinois.

Morehead State (19-8, 13-3 OVC) ran off four straight points to take a 13-11 lead in a tight opening set. Another 4-0 run on two kills each by Amelia Nott and Hollan Everett gave the Eagles the lead at 21-15. Morehead State closed out the set with an ace by Nott and Bailey Brashear's third ace of the set. Everett led the Eagle attack with four terminations in the frame.

Everett and M.E. Hargan paced the Eagle attack with 12 kills apiece in the match. The MSU offense hit .343 in the first set but was slowed by EIU and finished with a .172 efficiency for the match. EIU finished with a .302 hitting percentage for the match.

Eastern Illinois (20-6, 14-2 OVC) was led by Destiny Walker with 17 kills. Katie Kopshever finished with 14 and Lilli Amettis with 11.

Eastern Illinois took an early 6-3 lead in Set Two with a three-point run highlighted by back-to-back aces by Tori Mohesky. Later, a five-point Panther run gave EIU an 18-11 lead. Another 5-0 run, highlighted by two service aces by Katie Kopshever, made the score 23-12. The Panthers hit a blistering .536 attack efficiency in the set.

In the third set, EIU led gate to wire, grabbing an early 8-1 lead from a six- point run. EIU controlled the set and got a late 6-0 run to give them a slew of set points at 24-10. The Panthers were stout at the net with four blocks in the set; they held MSU to an .037 hitting percentage in the set.

Set four was tightly contested as the defenses stiffened; both teams struggled hit over .200 in the opening 20 points. There were 11 ties by the technical timeout with EIU leading 15-14 in the set. The Panthers ran off five straight points to run their lead to 21-16 and closed out the match trading points.

Morehead State slips to second place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings heading into the final week of the regular season. The Eagles host UT Martin on Tuesday and Wednesday next week in the final two matches until the OVC Tournament, which tips off November 23.
 
NOTABLE

• Eastern Illinois was strong at the net with an 11-6 total blocks advantage. EIU senior middle Emma Schroeder posted match honors with seven total blocks including two solos. Nott and Brashear paced Morehead State with four blocks apiece.
• Morehead State had an 8-7 edge in service aces. Hargan and Nott led the Eagle service attack with three aces each. EIU's Tori Mohesky posted a match-high four aces.
• EIU had a 65-57 advantage in digs. Courtney Fitzgerald posted 16 digs for match honors. EIU setter Catalina Rochaix led a balanced Panther effort with 15. Rochaix posted 45 assists for a double-double.
• Morehead State's Sydney Sennett finished with 32 assists and posted a double-double with 11 digs. The junior also smacked two service aces.