Euts’ Third Set Rally Not Enough to Stave off Panthers

The Eutectic women's volleyball team hosted the Greenville College Panthers (Ill.) for UHSP's second home match of the season on Wednesday night. After losing the first two sets 25-21, 25-15, the Eutectics rallied in the third set, winning 25-21 to prevent the shutout. But, the visiting Panthers (now 3-6) regained the upper hand in the fourth set, clinching the match with a 25-16 set victory.

The Greenville offense came out strong, racking up four kills and an ace to take a 7-1 lead in the first set. Down 13-6, Jenna Brinson set up Hanna Burch for three kills on four UHSP points to allow the Euts to get to 13-10. But, the Panthers rallied back with three points of their own forcing the Eutectics to try to play catch-up. UHSP staved off one set-point with a kill from Darlene Zediker to get to 24-21, but Greenville followed up with a kill by Abby Grohmann to finish off the set.

The start of Set 2 was a reverse of the previous set. Kills from Zediker and Amber Loo, along with several Panther attacking errors, gave the home team a 6-1 lead. The Euts maintained that spread to a 10-5 lead, winning long rallies as UHSP defenders Josie Barrand and Kira Cid dug up plenty of GU attacks to allow more swings from the Eutectic front line. Eventually, however, the Panther offense prevailed, tying the set at 14-14 with a service ace from Emma Ratermann, then pulling ahead 18-14 off two more Ratermann aces and two kills. The visitors then rode the momentum, winning the final seven points to take the set at 25-15.

In the third set, the Eutectics took and held the lead from the beginning, as the Panthers were plagues with errors. Down 5-2, the GU team rallied to tie it at 6-6. Then, at 13-13, Jenna Brinson surprised the Panthers with a tip over the net, putting the Euts on top for good. The Euts won four of the last five points off kills from Macy Hendrix and Burch, along with Panther errors to take the set at 25-21.

Despite the Eutectic third-set win, Greenville regained the momentum in the fourth set, going up 6-3 and then maintaining the lead for the rest of the match. The points went back and forth until, at 13-9, the Panthers strung together four points in a row off three kills and an ace to make it 17-9. The Euts could not recover from the deficit, dropping the final set at 25-16 and the match.   

Led by Mia Bonacorsi's 19 kills, the Panthers attacked at 44.4% compared to the Eutectics' 27.3%. Emma Ratermann and Kaitlin Murray shared setting duties, recording 54 of GU's 61 assists, with Ratermann racking up five aces.

Amber Loo led the Eutectic hitters with 12 kills, Jenna Brinson put up 36 assists, Josie Barrand had 19 digs, and Sumanpreet Kaur and Brinson assisted with three blocks apiece.

Still searching for their first win of the season, the Eutectics will next host five teams at the 2023 Eutectics Volleyball Classic this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 15-16, in the UHSP gymnasium. The first matches will begin at 3 p.m. with the UHSP squad taking to the floor at 5 p.m. versus Tabor University (Kan.) and 7 p.m. versus Friends University (Kan.) on Friday.