EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Purple Aces volleyball team will make its final road trip of the season, traveling to Missouri State on Friday before facing off against Wichita State on Saturday evening.
Evansville enters its final road trip with a 13-16 mark and 3-11 in MVC competition. The Aces are looking to put an end to a seven-match road losing streak, dating back to November 16 when the Aces tripped up Bradley in the MVC opener.
Last weekend, the Aces fell in a pair of matches against Indiana State and Illinois State.
Ellen Sawin fell just short of a triple-double as she notched 19 assists, 12 digs and 9 kills against the Sycamores.
Rachel TenHoor was the offensive leader in Saturday’s match against the Redbirds, tallying nine kills.
Sawin enters the final road matches of her career with 3,791 assists. That is second on the UE all-time list. She trails Betsy Knott, who wrapped up her career at UE with 5,067.
Missouri State is led by reigning MVC Player of the Week Carly Thomas. Thomas posted consecutive 50-assist, 20-dig matches in wins last weekend over Drake and Creighton. Kaitlin Jaeger took Freshman of the Week honors after posting 24 kills and averaging 0.88 blocks per set last weekend.
The Bears are 18-7 overall and are second in the league with an 11-3 mark. They have won their last three matches after falling to No. 12 Northern Iowa on October 28.
Wichita State begins the weekend with a 15-9 mark and 9-5 in MVC play. The Shockers split matches last weekend, falling in five sets to Creighton on Friday before sweeping past Drake on Saturday. WSU is 4-2 in their last six matches.
Sarah Waldorf picked up MVC Defensive Player of the Week honors for WSU after averaging 6.75 digs per set last weekend. Her total included a career-high 38 digs in the victory over Creighton.
In October, Evansville put an end to an 8-match losing streak by taking down Wichita State in five sets before falling by a 3-1 tally to Missouri State.
Next weekend, UE will wrap up the season with home matches against Northern Iowa and Bradley.
