EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Ashley Witt was one of four SIUE players in double figures kills Tuesday and broke the school record for most kills in a season by a freshman.

Witt now has 303, passing SIUE Athletics Hall of Famer Michelle (Gilman) Cox, who had 298 during the inaugural season of Cougar volleyball in 1995.

"That's a great accomplishment for her," said SIUE Head Coach Leah Johnson. "Compliments go to those around her who managed to dig or pass the ball to enable her to be terminal on the right side. Compliments also go to other attackers around her to have their blockers to stay honest. Ashley has done a great job of hitting every set in our offense, and I think that's what makes her so terminal."

Despite the record, SIUE fell in four sets to visiting Eastern Illinois 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 26-24. That ended SIUE's five-match winning streak, the longest of the Division I era.

"I felt good about how we played set one even though their attack percentage was better," said Johnson.

Eastern Illinois, 14-14 overall and 8-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference, was able to make the right adjustments to get back into the match behind 14 kills from Abby Saalfrank and 11 from Chelsea Lee.

SIUE freshman Emily Harrison led all players with 15 kills, which was a season high for the outside hitter. Taylor Held added 14 kills while Kristen Torre added 10.

"We saw Emily and Ashley have a really nice performance so it was good to see them continue to emerge in their game," Johnson said.

SIUE collected nine more kills as a team than Eastern Illinois, winning the battle 60-51.

"It took us a lot of more swings to get those kills," said SIUE Head Coach Leah Johnson. "They were more efficient with the balls they had."

Eastern Illinois hit .261 for the match while SIUE finished at .217.

The Cougars made a strong defensive effort in the fourth set, pushing the Panthers to the end. SIUE had four blocks in the final set.

"After four sets, I think they found their alignment and became more aggressive," said Johnson. "They were blocking for points because the game was on the line. That's the kind of play you have to have the whole match. That was the difference though between tonight and the last five matches."

SIUE, 14-16 overall and 6-9 in the OVC, closes out the regular season Saturday with a 2 p.m. match at Belmont.