EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Keyed by an offensive attack which featured six players hitting .360 or above, the University of Evansville volleyball team was able to snap a five-match losing streak Saturday night at the UE Carson Center, as the Purple Aces swept the Drake Bulldogs, 3-0.  Match scores were 30-18, 30-26, 30-18 in favor of Evansville.

The Purple Aces started out hot and never cooled down offensively, as UE nearly set a single-match school record for attack percentage by hitting at a .416 clip the entire night.  The .416 attack percentage fell just points shy of the UE single-match record of .432, set against Tulsa in 1995.

“The offense really clicked tonight and everyone did a very nice job of putting the ball where it needed to be,” said UE head coach Mike Swan.  “Our passing was really the key because it allowed us to spread out the offensive attack.  When we pass well, we have the skill to be a very good offensive team.

“Tonight’s match was a good match for us offensively, and hopefully, we’ll be able to carry that over to our matches at Bradley and Northern Iowa next weekend.”

Evansville set the tone for the match early in game one, as the Purple Aces hit .425 for the opening game en route to a 30-18 game one victory.  Seniors Danielle Diehl and Megan Spurlock keyed the Evansville attack in game one with 11 combined kills in just 18 swings, without committing an attacking error. 

After a slow start to game two, the Purple Aces would finish strong, winning eight of the game’s final 10 points to rally from a 24-22 deficit and post a 30-26 victory to take a two games-to-none lead in the match.  Freshman Emily Wandersee recorded six kills during game two and served five-straight points late in game two to key UE’s second victory.

Game three was all Evansville, as the Purple Aces jumped out to a 20-7 lead and never looked back en route to a 30-18 game three victory and a match sweep of the Bulldogs.  Evansville hit a blistering .567 as a team in game three, with 20 kills in just 30 attempts, while committing just three errors.  Sophomore Ginta Gabruseva totaled six kills in the third game, including a decisive kill on match point to send Evansville home victorious.

Diehl and Spurlock paced the balanced Evansville attack with 12 kills apiece, while hitting .550 and .360 respectively.  Wandersee added 11 kills and a .500 attack percentage, while Gabruseva chipped in 10 kills off of the bench on a .562 attack mark to key UE’s reserves.  Angela Bys paced Drake with 12 kills in 27 swings.

With the victory, Evansville improves to 9-9 overall and 2-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Drake, meanwhile, slips to 5-13 overall and 2-5 in the Valley.  The Purple Aces will return to action next weekend, as UE will hit the road to battle Bradley and Northern Iowa on Friday and Saturday night.