EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville volleyball team has won six matches in a row with a Friday night win over Indiana State. The Aces defeated the Sycamores 3-1 in the first Missouri Valley Conference match of the season. The six match winning streak is a first for head coach Mike Swan since taking over the program in 2003.
Both teams came out playing back and forth in the early part of game one. With Indiana State in the lead at 12-11, UE gained some momentum with back to back kills from senior Danielle Diehl and junior Sally Kulupka to retake the lead 13-12. The Aces would eventually work the lead to four at 18-14 ISU bounced back to tie things at 22-22, but UE put down tree straight kills to regain the advantage 25-22. UE would hold on to take game one 30-27. Senior Megan Spurlock finished the game with five kills and Diehl also helped pace the offense with four kills in the game and finishing with .800 hitting percentage.
The Sycamores set the tone early in game two jumping ahead of UE 16-9. The Aces battled back into the game to pull within two, 27-25. Although UE played well to get back into the game, the early lead was too much to overcome as ISU won game two, 30-26.
Game three was another up and down game as UE started hot leading 6-1, but ISU responded with an 8-1 run to get into the game to retake the lead 9-7. The two point advantage was short lived as UE took control to earn the win 30-24.
Sophomore Emily Wandersee knocked down an early kill in game four to help UE jump ahead 5-2. Junior Katie Kincaid later put down a service ace then followed that with an assist to junior Kerry Sylvester to make the score 12-8. Kincaid then put down a kill of her own to make UE’s lead five points. ISU worked their way back into the game taking a lead of 16-15 midway through the match. With the Sycamores leading 20-18, UE went on their biggest run of the night. The Aces were able to put down ten straight points to control the game at 28-20. The momentum was enough to propel UE to win the game 30-22.
Spurlock led the offense once again with 15 kills hitting for a .217 percentage. Sylvester also played well finishing with 14 kills on 26 attempts with just three errors to hit for a .423 percentage. Senior Julie Walroth had a season high 34 digs. Walroth needs 18 more digs to move to second on the all-time UE dig list.
The Aces will hit the court for their second MVC match of the year on Saturday night as they will battle Illinois State. The match is set to begin at 7:00 PM at Carson Center.
