Charleston, Ill. --- The Tennessee State University volleyball team fell in three straight sets to Eastern Illinois Friday night on the road.

The set scores were: 17-25, 23-25, 19-25.

TSU (12-8, 8-5 OVC) tallied 38 kills and only hit .142 in the contest while Eastern Illinois (7-16, 5-7 OVC) registered 41 kills behind a .333 hitting percentage.

Shaquita Williams led TSU with eight kills while Britani Hathorn turned in 10 digs. Erika Moss recorded 29 set assists.

The Panthers were led by Emily Franklin's 13 kills while Reynae Hutchinson added 11. Hutchinson also posted 11 digs for a double-double.

Eastern Illinois controlled the opening set jumping out to a 9-3 lead. A kill by Erika Moss cut the deficit down to five but the Tigers never recovered. The Panthers swelled the advantage back up to 23-14 before going on to win, 25-17.

In the second set, the teams battled to a 10-10 deadlock. TSU was holding on to a slight, 15-13, lead when four unanswered points by the Panthers put EIU on top, 17-15. The rest of the frame was closely contested. The score was, 24-23, when the Panthers used a timely kill to squeeze out the, 25-23, win.

Set three saw TSU fall behind by three before the Tigers outscored the Panthers, 6-3, to knot the score at 16-16. From there the teams went point-for-point as TSU seemed determined to force a fourth set. The Tiger rally, however, eventually fell short as the Panthers used a 6-0 run to close the set and seal the win.  

EIU held the advantage in blocks, 16-4, and digs, 40-35.

TSU returns to action tomorrow against SIU Edwardsville. Match-time is slated for 2 p.m. at the Vadalabene Center.