Volleyball sweeps, then stumbles at home

Halloween weekend was full of both tricks and treats for the EKU Volleyball team. The Colonels split a pair of home conference games as they continue to battle for a spot in the OVC Tournament.Eastern (6-17, 5-8 OVC) beat Tennessee State in three straight sets on Friday, only to see its six-match home winning streak snapped in a loss to Austin Peay on Saturday.

The Colonels started off the match-up against Tennessee State (3-22, 2-11 OVC) with a 25-21 win in a back-and-forth first set. There were 13 ties in the set.

In the second set Eastern took the lead 5-4 on a kill by junior outside hitter Lauren Snyder and led the rest of the way for a 25-18 win.

However, to pull off the match sweep the Colonels had to mount a comeback as they found themselves trailing in the third set 7-13.

After an Eastern timeout the Colonels staged an 18-7 run to take the set 25-20. Snyder had five of her match high 10 kills in the third set. Snyder also had 11 digs to score her fifth double-double of the season.

With 29 assists for the match, junior setter Kate Hendle moved up to third on the EKU all-time assists list with 2211.

Senior outside hitter Lindsey Loescher had 7 kills, 11 digs, and 2 service aces.

Defensively, junior libero Abby O'Connor contributed 10 digs in the third set, 16 for the match.

The Tennessee State match was viewed as a must win in order for Eastern to make it into the OVC tournament.

"This win was a necessity," Eastern Head Coach Lori Duncan said. "There are four games we absolutely need; Tennessee State is two of them." The Colonels travel to Nashville on November 10th for a rematch with the Tigers.

Errors played a pivotal role as State had 23 attack errors to Eastern's 13 and 13 service errors to 7 for the Colonels.

"We were let of the hook a lot," said Duncan. "We would make a mistake, and they wouldn't be able to capitalize because they would make an error. They began to play less aggressive because of that."

The Austin Peay (19-6, 12-2 OVC) matchup was a potential payback game for the Colonels after they lost to the Lady Govs in five sets on October 6. Unfortunately, the Lady Govs capitalized on communication breakdowns by the Colonels and won 3-1.

Set scores for the match were 22-25, 25-20, 9-25, and 18-25.

The first set saw 12 ties and 8 lead changes between the two teams, but Austin Peay was able to score the last three points of the set to take game one.

After Eastern battled back to take a 17-9 lead in set two, the match began to shift completely in the Lady Govs favor. Austin Peay cut Eastern's lead to two at three different times down the stretch. Eastern was able to hold on for the set win, but the game had changed.

"We started out solid," sophomore outside hitter Amanda Fago said. "But when they started coming back we froze, we started playing hesitant, we stopped talking to each other on the court and that continued into the third set."

Austin Peay led throughout the third set. OVC Offensive Player of the Week Stephanie Champine had four of her 11 kills in a brutal stretch that saw the Lady Govs outscore the Colonels 10-2. Kayla Grantham had two uncontested service aces during that same stretch for Austin Peay. Grantham had four service aces for the match.

The 25-9 loss margin for the set was the worst of the season for Eastern.

"It's unacceptable to lose like that," Fago said. "It sucks. Nobody can say they played well."

Fago led the Colonels with 10 kills and two solo blocks. Hendle contributed 32 assists. O'Connor had a match high 22 digs.

Austin Peay's Kirstin Distler finished the match with 12 kills and 15 digs.

Eastern now attempts to move forward with a pivotal three game road trip. The Colonels will travel to play Eastern Illinois on Friday at 8 p.m. and then play Southeast Missouri State at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Earlier in the season Eastern beat EIU 3-1 after beating SEMO in five sets for their first win of the season. The Colonels have not won a game on the road yet.

Eastern sits in seventh in the OVC standings, a half game behind SEMO for sixth.

"We're not going to quit," Fago said. "We're not done. We won't let this game be the end of our season.