Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Trey Burke Junior Kelsey Rose serves against Southeast Missoui State on Saturday. Eastern took the match in three sets.

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.

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