For Immediate Release

eureka, illinois

October 18, 2006

Have Faith: Panthers nip Red Devils in key SLIAC match

In easily the most intense home match of the season with third place in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at stake, the visiting Greenville College Panthers (12-9, 5-2 SLIAC) overcame a pair of late Eureka College (10-11, 3-3 SLIAC) leads to take the match in four games (32-30, 30-28, 26-30, 30-27).

The two sides seemed to be so even, it may have been better in the interest of time to start with a tied score at 20-20 and play on from there. Each game came down to the final point to decide the winner.

The Red Devils did not have a lead in game one until a 5-0 rally put them ahead 26-25. Chelsea Faith (Mt. Pulaski, Ill./HS), who had five kills and no errors in the opening frame, spiked down a Krysta Matson (Metamora, Ill./HS) set to give EC game point a 29-28. Greenville won the next point and staved another game point after Kaci Davis (Fairbury, Ill./Prairie Central) had given Eureka a 30-29 lead with her fifth kill of the game. The game swung in the visitors' favor for good when Laura Alo recorded kills on a the next two points to steal the game for the Panthers.

Things did not get much better for the Red Devils' home faithful in game two as they witnessed yet another gut wrenching defeat for the home squad to swallow. The Red Devils hit just .104 in the game and committed six service errors, but they appeared to be in line to overcome all that and square the match at a game apiece when Heather Myers (Eureka, Ill./HS) recorded kills on back-to-back points giving EC a 28-26 edge. Greenville won the next two points to tie the score and caught a break when an attack hit into the net was ruled to have touched a Red Devil player resulting a third consecutive point. The Panthers closed out the match on an EC attack error to win 30-28.

Myers was dominant in game three with seven kills and no errors and Matson dished out 14 assists as Eureka extended the match to a fourth game. Game three saw 14 ties, the last coming at 25. From there, EC took five of the next six points to win by four, the largest margin of victory on the night.

There were 10 more ties in the fourth game, which turned into a defensive battle with neither squad allowing the opposing attack to get in rhythm. The offenses left much to be desired, but Greenville held a slight edge in hitting .120 to .104. Both teams led once by four points. Eureka was up 12-8 and Greenville led 27-23. The Red Devils valiantly fought back to get within 28-27 following a block by Faith. That would be a final point EC would score in the match, however, as the Panthers salted the it away with the next two points.

Faith led four Red Devils in double figure kills with a season-high 17. She has three consecutive 10+ kills matches after recording three in her first 17 matches the season. Myers finished with 16, while Davis had 14. Charissa Wilson (Princeville, Ill./HS) knocked down six kills in game four to amass 11 for the contest. Wilson also had 16 digs to join Matson (54 assists, 17 digs) with double-doubles. Emily Forbes (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) led EC with 18 digs and was a solid 95.7 percent on serve receives. Cara Willey (Lexington, Ill./Gridley) and Laura Willman (Metamora, Ill./HS) each had 13 digs.

Laura Alo led Greenville with 17 kills. Kerry Hammer had 18 digs. The Panthers led in blocks 14-4 and
out-hit EC .191 to .149 on the night.

Despite the loss, the Red Devils will likely still qualify for the conference tournament with a win in their next match on Tuesday, October 24 at 7:00 pm versus Maryville University. Eureka lost a non-conference match at home to the Saints in five games on September 19.

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For More Information Contact:

Brian Sullivan

Sports Information Director

Eureka College

300 E. College Avenue

Eureka, Illinois 61530

309-467-6456

bsullivan@eureka.edu