• Boxscore

After playing against one of the best teams in the Missouri Valley, the University of Evansville volleyball team (10-8, 3-3) lost a 3-1 battle against Wichita State (13-3, 4-2) by scores of 19-25, 25-23, 11-25 and 19-25.

“Naturally we were disappointed because we thought we would have an opportunity to come in here and win,” said Evansville head coach Mike Swan. “Our serve receive broke down, and our offense became predictable. After doing so well last weekend in blocking, it just wasn’t there tonight, and as good of an offensive team Wichita State is, if you don’t block you will be in trouble.

“Hopefully we can build off of this and learn from our mistakes, and get a win at Missouri State tomorrow.” 

Senior Ginta Gabruseva earned a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs in the loss. Senior Rachel Robinson followed with nine while freshman Hannah Wilson collected seven kills.

Junior Julie Sylvester earned her 1,000th career dig after posting 15 in the match. Setter Ellen Sawin tabbed 28 assists and 10 digs.

In the first set, the Shockers got the game going on a 3-0 start. The Aces were able to tie the score at 6 and 8, but WSU grabbed the lead back at 10-8 after errors on UE. The Aces then started a 3-0 rally to help spurt them to close the gap at 23-19, but back-to-back kills from WSU ended the set 25-19.

The Aces started the next contest on a better foot with an ace from Sylvester and kill from Emily Wandersee putting UE up 4-1. UE continued to roll after an ace from Brooke Maher had the Aces leading 9-3. Evansville was able to put WSU in a six-point hole, but the Shockers found a way out and tied the game at 18.  UE never gave up, though, and went on to win 25-23.

The third set proved to be tough for the Aces. After keeping the score close early, the Shockers went on a 6-0 scoring run to go up 8-2. The Shocks continued short scoring runs for most of the set to win 25-11.

The momentum of the third carried over into the fourth with WSU quickly gaining a 7-1 advantage before a UE timeout. Evansville slowly crept its way back in the game and was able to cut the lead to three at 20-17. However, the Shocks’ offensive power became too much, and WSU closed the set at 25-19.

The Aces continue their tough road trip by playing at Missouri State on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.