The University of Evansville volleyball team will host Southern Illinois on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in its only Missouri Valley Conference match of the weekend.

UE takes momentum into Saturday’s match after posting a 3-0 sweep over the University of Illinois-Chicago Tuesday. The win improved the Aces’ overall record to 12-2 and marked the 10^th sweep of the season for UE.

As a team, the Aces are strong at the net with 624 kills and an MVC-best .250 attack average on the season. The offense is led by senior Emily Wandersee and junior Brooke Maher, who both have posted double-digit kills this season with 173 and 157, respectively. Junior Kaisi Nixon enters the weekend hitting .239 on the season with 43 blocks, including a team-high seven solo blocks. With 16 service aces on the season, senior Viera Rajcan ranks sixth in the MVC for aces per set.

SIU holds a 9-3 record coming into the weekend, with two of those losses coming last weekend against Creighton and Drake. Prior to the weekend, the Salukis had been on an eight-game winning streak dating back to their August 29^th sweep of Alabama.

The Salukis’ defense is statistically strong at the net, leading the MVC in blocks per set with 2.77. Senior Jasmine Connor holds the league-best blocking average, posting 1.35 blocks per set. Hitting .227 as a team, SIU’s offense is led by Jennifer Berwanger and Alicia Johnson. Berwanger leads the pack with 133 kills while Johnson has downed 111 kills of her own. The Salukis lead the Valley in serving, putting up 1.74 service aces per set. Individually, sophomore Bailey Yaeger leads the MVC in service aces with 21 on the season.