The 13-2 University of Evansville volleyball team will hit the road this weekend, traveling to No. 15 Northern Iowa, as ranked by the AVCA, for Friday’s match before wrapping up the weekend at Bradley on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
UE brings a 2-1 Missouri Valley Conference record into this weekend’s match-ups. The Aces’ last contest was a 3-0 sweep over Southern Illinois. Already this season, the Aces have recorded 11 three-set wins, marking the most sweeps since 1983 when then-head coach Linda Crick recorded 15 shutout victories.
The Aces enter the weekend with a team hitting percentage of .253, the highest in the MVC. UE’s offense is led by senior Emily Wandersee, who has a total of 184 kills and a .385 attack average, the second-best in the MVC. With 498 assists on the season, junior Ellen Sawin is averaging a league-best 10.6 assists per set. Wandersee and junior Kaisi Nixon are tied with a team-high seven solo blocks on the season. Freshman Katie Klages continues to lead the back row with 184 total digs.
Bringing a 12-2 record into Friday’s match, UNI has taken down all four MVC opponents it has faced so far, including Missouri State, Wichita State, Creighton and Drake. The Panthers are most recently coming off of a pair of 3-1 wins over Creighton and Drake last weekend.
Northern Iowa’s offense is the only team in the Valley with a higher kills per set average than UE. With five players posting triple-digit kills, UNI’s offense has totaled 767 kills on the season with an average of 14.2 kills per set. Junior Michelle Burow leads the team with 173 kills and a .347 average. At the net, the Panthers average 2.35 blocks per set, led by sophomore Krista DeGeest who has recorded 67 total blocks so far this season. Defensively, MVC Player of the Week senior Ellie Blankenship leads the Panthers’ back row and ranks second in the league with 283 total digs.
Entering the weekend with a 4-11 overall record, Bradley is winless in MVC matchups so far. Bradley is coming off of a 0-3 midweek loss to Loyola-Chicago, marking the eighth consecutive loss for the Braves. They are slated to take on Southern Illinois Friday before hosting the Aces Saturday.
The Braves have posted a team attack average of .117 with 92 total blocks. Freshman Amy Angelos leads the offense with 129 kills on the season and a .247 attack percentage. With four Braves posting tripe-digit digs, sophomore Allie Gardner leads the pack with 190 on the year. Sophomore Madelyn Ervin ranks fifth in the MVC for service aces, averaging .33 per set.
Fans can follow all of the Aces action by watching live stats for the UNI match as well as the Bradley match. Northern Iowa and Bradley both offer audio/video streaming of the game, at a cost. To sign up for streaming of the UNI game, click here. For Bradley, click here.
