EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Evansville volleyball team will seek its second Missouri Valley Conference tournament appearance in three years as the team will battle Illinois State and Indiana State on the road in the final weekend of conference play.

Evansville, Illinois State, and Southern Illinois are all in the race for the final two spots with just a game splitting the difference between the three teams. Illinois State and Southern Illinois will square off on Friday night in Bloomington, Illinois. The 2008 State Farm MVC Tournament begins Thanksgiving Day in Wichita, Kansas.

The Aces will try to snap a four-game losing streak as they will take on the Indiana State Sycamores at 6 p.m. CST on Friday and will then travel to Illinois State on Saturday for a 7 p.m. matchup.

The Aces swept the Sycamores at Carson Center in the opening weekend of Valley play after being swept by the Redbirds the night before. Illinois State will be playing on eight days rest. For the Sycamores, Jodilynne Stoker leads the way averaging 2.89 kills per set and Kristy Cox has 1,031 assists for the season. The Redbirds are led by Peggy Riessen averaging 3.78 kills per set and 3.97 digs per set.

The Aces come in to this weekend’s matches with four players averaging better than two kills per set. Freshman Brooke Maher leads the way with 2.54 kills per set, followed by Sally Kulupka at 2.41, Emily Wandersee at 2.27, and Kerry Sylvester at 2.09. Defensively, Julie Sylvester leads the charge averaging 4.72 digs per set while Maher averages 3.0 digs per set.