EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Purple Aces volleyball team will travel a few hours west on Friday for what will be their final non-conference tournament of the season when they participate in the Active Ankle Challenge, which will be hosted by Saint Louis University.
Evansville begins the event versus the host Billikens on Friday evening at 7 p.m. before facing the University of South Florida at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The tournament will finish on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. when UE faces Southeast Missouri State.
Entering the weekend, UE sophomore
Ashley Ring is the MVC leader with 3.96 kills per set. She kept that going in Tuesday’s home opener against Murray State as she tallied 13 kills to go along with 10 digs. Ring also notched five blocks (two solo) in the victory. For her efforts thus far in 2012, Ring has been named to the All-Tournament squads in the Wildcat Classic along with last week’s Morehead State Tournament.
St. Louis enters the weekend with a 3-4 mark and has won three of its last four contests. The Billikens opened the season with three-consecutive straight-set losses to Nebraska, Notre Dame and Santa Clara, before earning their first victory, a 3-1 win, against Valparaiso at the Active Ankle Challenge. SLU then fell to Southern Illinois, before rebounding with wins over South Alabama and Bradley.
The Billikens have four players that have recorded 15 or more blocks, including Carly Marcum, who leads the team with 25. Lindsey Dinkelacker has posted a team-high 64 kills to lead the SLU offensive attack.
Saturday’s schedule opens up against USF in the morning. The Bulls enter play this weekend with a record of 2-4. At their season-opening home tournament, USF fell to Wisconsin and Creighton before defeating UCF. In last week’s NC State Invitational, the Bulls picked up a win over VCU while falling to North Carolina State and Kent State.
Southeast Missouri State stands at 4-3 on the season, after going 1-2 at the Milwaukee Invitational last weekend. The Redhawks fell in straight sets to Western Michigan and host Milwaukee, and earned a straight-set victory over East Carolina.
Colleen Yarber leads SEMO with 75 kills to go along with 86 digs and five service aces. Emily Coon and Taylor Masterson have been the defensive leaders for the Redhawks, combining for 46 blocks, including 12 solo blocks.
On Tuesday, the Aces will be back at the Carson Center as they will take on Belmont at 7 p.m. before beginning conference play next weekend. Illinois State comes to town on Sept. 14 while Indiana State travels to the Carson Center the next day.
