•Boxscore
Energy from the Evansville crowd in the third set helped the Aces (9-7, 2-2) come back from an 0-2 deficit to defeat Indiana State (5-12, 1-4) Friday night 3-2 (25-27, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-12).
“I’m so proud of the way that we came back and battled in the third set,” said Evansville head coach
Mike Swan. “I thought Julie (Sylvester) was amazing. Emily (Wandersee) did great things for us offensively as well as many others. This is the best blocking performance since I don’t know when. We finally settled down in the third and played how we were capable.”
In the win, history was made for sophomore
Ellen Sawin and junior
Julie Sylvester. Sawin’s 54 assists in the match moved her to 10th in UE’s all-time career assists leaders. Sylvester’s 30 digs not only set a new career high for her, but also placed Sylvester 10th in the Aces’ all-time career digs leaders.
“Ellen has just played solid for us all season,” Swan said. “With her just being a sophomore, that says a lot about her playing abilities. Julie has been libero for us for the past two years, and she is really steady at the position. We need this kind of performance from her every night.”
For the Aces,
Ginta Gabruseva led the team with 18 kills and two service aces.
Emily Wandersee followed behind with 16 kills while leading the team with a .448 attack percentage and career-high 11 blocks.
Brooke Maher also tabbed 12 kills in the win.
In the first set, the Aces held a lead for most of the match, and found themselves leading as much as 23-19. However, the Sycamores rolled out four-straight points to tie the game at 24. The teams exchanged kills before Indiana State had back-to-back kills to end the set at 27-25.
The beginning of the second outing had the teams trading points until Indiana State grasped a 5-4 lead. UE tied the game at 12, but the Sycamores were able to roll out a 25-21 victory heading into the break.
Two kills from
Rachel Robinson opened the third set 2-0 in favor of the Aces. The lead was shortly lost, but a kill from
Jessica Knackmuhs put UE up 8-7. An error-free set from Wandersee and Gabruseva and a 4-0 scoring run at the end helped UE close the door on the sweep 25-19.
The fourth set was a battle for most of the contest, as the Aces grabbed an 11-4 advantage early. However, the Sycamores didn’t give in and a 13-5 point rally put the visitors ahead 17-16. UE then started a rally of its own with kills from Wandersee, Gabruseva and Knackmuhs gave UE the win 25-22.
In the deciding set, UE led the entire contest and led as much as five. Indiana State closed the gap late at 13-12, but it wasn’t enough with the Aces taking the set 15-12.
Evansville gets one more home stand over the weekend when the Aces play Saturday versus Illinois State at 7:00 p.m. in Carson Center.
