RICHMOND, Ky. – SIUE won its first five-set match of the season Friday with an Ohio Valley Conference volleyball victory over Eastern Kentucky.

The Cougars improved to 7-11 overall and 3-2 in the OVC with a 22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 18-25, 15-13 triumph at McBrayer Arena.

Eastern Kentucky, playing in its OVC home opener, dropped its fourth consecutive OVC match and is now 1-4 in league play. The Colonels fell to 7-12 overall. EKU came into the match with a 3-1 record in five-set matches while the Cougars had been 0-2.

"What helps our team is that we have won on the road and we have already won on the road in conference," said SIUE Head Coach Leah Johnson. SIUE is now 2-1 in OVC road contests and next faces Morehead State in a 1 p.m. match Saturday. Morehead State also won Friday in five sets over Eastern Illinois.

"We're getting excited about the match," said Johnson. "Since they won in five sets, the teams will be on equal footing."

For the third consecutive match, SIUE outside hitter Cori Harris claimed a career high in kills. The senior led all players with 20 kills and finished with a .279 hitting percentage.

Ashley Edmond paced the Colonels with 17 kills.

Harris got off to a slow start with just two kills in the first set as the Cougars established the play of middle hitters Kelsey Augustine and Kristen Torre. Both Augustine and Torre had five kills in the opening set. Harris ramped up her play with seven kills in the third set and five more in the fourth.

"I felt like the offense was balanced, and we saved the best for the end of the match," Johnson said. Freshman Alicia Streetar and Augustine also were in double figures in kills with 12.

EKU and SIUE set the heart-pounding pace of the match early with 13 ties and seven lead changes in the opening set. The Colonels took set one with three straight points after the match had been tied 22-22.

The Cougars didn't let that setback become a bigger problem. SIUE rallied from a 14-10 deficit in the second set with a 9-1 streak that gave SIUE a 19-15 lead. The lead would go as high as four before Harris closed out the set with a kill.

Set three became a bit of the problem for the Cougars. Despite running out of substitutions, the Cougars came back from a huge deficit. The Cougars were down 19-14 and 22-16 before running off nine straight points off Augustine's serve. An Augustine service ace and two EKU attack errors closed out the set.

SIUE also was dominant on defense with an 84-67 edge in digs. SIUE libero Chelsea Colclasure led all players with 29 digs.

Johnson said she has seen dividends in the Cougars playing a difficult non-conference schedule.

"We seeing the benefits of that help us now in conference play, particularly on the road," Johnson said.

After EKU won set four, the Cougars made a quick four-point run at 6-6 in set five and then held on for the victory.

"We stayed true to our goals of moving the offense, serving strong, and passing well," Johnson said. "I was pleased that we got better as the match went on," said Johnson.