Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Evansville volleyball team wrapped up its first win in 31 all-time meetings against Northern Iowa in an exciting game at Carson Center Saturday evening. The Aces downed the Panthers in four to improve to 13-12 and 7-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Panthers, who are second in the league, picked up their third MVC loss on the road to fall to 10-3 in the MVC and 20-5 overall.

 

“This was a pretty exciting win for us,” said head coach Mike Swan. “The girls played with a lot of poise and confidence tonight. We spread our offense out and kept them guessing throughout the game. Everyone who played contributed in a positive way.”

 

The Aces came out strong in the opening set with 17 kills as a team while hitting .267 en route to a 25-18 victory. Senior Sally Kulupka paced the offense hitting .385 with six kills in the set while Emily Wandersee added four kills. Defensively Julie Sylvester dug up 10 balls.

 

The Panthers pushed the limit in the second set but the Aces rallied for a 26-24 second set win. The Panthers out hit the Aces .244 to .225. Brooke Maher had a set-high eight kills, and Ellen Sawin collected 13 assists to lead the Aces.

 

The Panthers hit their best of the night in the third set, hitting .286 to take a 25-20 win over the Aces. Despite the loss, Sawin had 28 assists in the set while Maher had five kills and Kulupa added four.

 

The Aces battled back to take the fourth set and the match with a 25-18 win in the final set while hitting their best efficiency of the night at .361. Kulupka had five kills in the set and Kerry Sylvester added four to lead the team. Sawin picked up 12 assists in the win.

 

In the game, Kulupka led the Aces hitting .256 with 17 kills in the game. Maher posted a double-double with 15 kills and 15 digs while Wandersee was in double-digits with 10 kills. Kerry Sylvester led the blocking with three block assists and hit a match-high .389 with eight kills. Sawin posted a match-high 54 assists in the game to set a career-high for the freshman. Julie Sylvester posted her second straight game with 23 digs to lead the Aces’ defense. As a team, the Aces hit. 242 with 62 kills and 80 digs in the game.

 

The Aces will return to action next weekend as they will travel to Missouri State and Wichita State for two road matches in MVC play.