Box Score

The University of Evansville volleyball team started the season on the right foot as the Lady Aces took an exciting 3-1 win at the Memphis Invitational from host team Memphis on Friday night.

“To beat Memphis on its home court is a huge win for us,” said Evansville head coach Mike Swan. “To be on their home court, I thought we showed a lot of poise at times. We just need to learn to eliminate unforced errors, but we still did a lot of good things. We had key contributions from every position, so I’m pleased with the effort and glad to be 1-0.”

Sophomore Brooke Maher led the charge with a double-double of 15 kills and 18 digs. Junior Viera Rajcan finished the night with 12 kills while libero April Lubrecht had 20 digs. Setter Ellen Sawin tallied 47 assists in the victory. Freshman Hannah Wilson also came in big after hitting .368 with eight kills on 19 attempts.

In the first set, UE got off to a fast 4-0 start with kills from Maher and Ginta Gabruseva. Memphis did get on the board before Evansville went on a 4-0 run to gain a lead of 9-2. The Tigers rallied but would never pull ahead, leaving their closest late effort at 23-22. Another kill from Maher and an attack error on Memphis sealed the first set for the Lady Aces 25-22.

Memphis started the second contest by getting on the board first and taking a 3-1 lead, but was short lived as UE went up 4-3. The set continued back and forth, but Memphis gained a three-point advantage at 20-17. Emily Wandersee came in with a kill and an ace from Maher helped the visitors tie at 23. After a Memphis timeout, the momentum stayed with the Purple Aces as the team closed the door at 25-23.

The scores continued to stay close in the third set, as there were seven lead changes before UE took the largest gain at 23-20. The Tigers then took the advantage at 24-23 and never gave the lead back. The Lady Aces never gave up their effort, though, as they took Memphis into extra points before dropping the set 28-26.

The fourth set proved not to be much different from the others with a back-and-forth pace. Memphis gained a large lead at 19-14, but an ace from Sawin and a kill from Wilson capped off an Evansville rally to tie it at 20. Evansville kept a grasp on the lead as the team ended the game on five-straight points and a 25-20 victory.

Evansville faces Arkansas State at 10 a.m. to start day two of the tournament. The Purple Aces finish the day with Southeast Missouri State at 5 p.m.