The University of Evansville volleyball team will be one of six teams vying for an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament as the 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament kicks off at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan. on Thanksgiving Day.

The Aces will return to the tournament for the second time in three years after clinching a spot with their sweep of Indiana State on Friday in Terre Haute, Ind. to break a four-game losing skid. The Aces are 1-3 in tournament play dating back to 1998. Their lone win came in 2000 with a 3-1 win over Creighton in Terre Haute. The sixth-seeded Aces will take on the number three seed, Northern Iowa, in the opening match of the tournament at 6 p.m. The winner of the match will face Creighton in the semifinal round on Friday.

The Aces and Panthers last met on November 1 at Carson Center with the Aces shocking UNI with a 3-1 win. Before the match, the Aces had never beaten the Panthers in 30 all-time meetings. For their efforts in the match, Ellen Sawin was named the MVC Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week while Julie Sylvester received Defensive Player of the Week. In addition, Sally Kulupka was named the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week to sweep the weekly conference awards.

The will enter the tournament with five players averaging better than two kills per set. Freshman Brooke Maher leads the way with 2.48 kills per set, followed by Sally Kulupka at 2.44, Emily Wandersee at 2.32, Kerry Sylvester at 2.08 and Ginta Gabruseva at 2.01. Defensively, Julie Sylvester leads the charge averaging 4.81 digs per set while Maher averages just under 3.0 digs per set. Ellen Sawin returned to the lineup this past weekend after missing the previous two matches. The freshman leads the team averaging 7.58 assists per set.


Tournament Pairings
Thursday, November 27
#3 Northern Iowa vs. #6 Evansville – 6 p.m.
#4 Missouri State vs. #5 Illinois State – 8 p.m.

Friday, November 28
#2 Creighton vs. Winner of UNI/UE – 5 p.m.
#1 Wichita State vs. Winner of MSU/ISU – 7 p.m.

Saturday, November 29
Championship match – 7:06 p.m.