The University of Evansville Purple Aces swimming & diving teams are traveling to Springfield, Mo., Friday afternoon to take on the Missouri State Bears in a dual meet at 4:00 p.m.
 
The Aces are coming off of a strong performance in the Indiana Intercollegiate, finishing second out of eight teams.
 
On the women's side, the Aces bring in a strong squad. Heading the squad is freshman Danielle Freeman who is ranked second and third in the 50 and 100 freestyle in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), with top times of 24.00 & 52.98 seconds. The Aces also have freshman Michaela Kent, who is ranked second and first in the 50 (58.63) and 100 (2:06.71) backstroke in the MVC.
 
For the men's squad, junior standout Ashton Bishop ranks fourth and sixth in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in the 50 (21.17) and 100 (46.69) freestyle. The men also bring in the second-ranked 200-medley freestyle relay team in the MAC. The team consists of Bishop, senior Carder LaBrake, sophomore Ethan O'Rourke and senior Phil Stevenson.
 
The Bears bring in Vitalii Barshok on the men's squad, who ranks first in the MAC in the 100 freestyle with a top time of 45.35 and third in the 200 freestyle with time of 1:41.21. On the women's side, the Bears top performer in the MVC is Renata Sander who ranks first in the 100 and 200 breaststroke with top times of 1:04.42 and 2:20.60.
 
The last time the Aces swam against Missouri State was during the 2012-13 season in a dual meet, with the Bears coming out on top.

The Aces men's squad will also swim against Ball State at Wyttenbach Pool at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 2.