Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Senior Rachel TenHoor and junior Meaghan Holmes posted 9 and 8 kills, respectively, as the University of Evansville volleyball team fell by a 3-0 final to Southern Illinois on Friday evening.
 
TenHoor and Holmes led the UE (9-18, 4-12 MVC) attack that hit .139 in the game.  TenHoor had an efficient night, hitting .429 with nine kills in 21 attempts.  Holmes hit .250 on the night while posting three block assists.  Jessica Whitehead led the Salukis (16-12, 11-5 MVC) with 14 kills while Elly Braaten had 11.  SIU hit .324 on the night, led by Elly's .733.
 
Evansville put forth its best effort in the opening set, but it did not start out very easy as the Salukis jumped out to a 7-2 lead as UE committed four errors while allowing a service ace.  Down 8-3, the Aces rallied for eight points in a row, led by Kim Deprez, who notched an amazing five aces in the run.
 
Later, with Jenn Murphy taking her turn serving, the Aces continued to add to their lead, going up by a 19-11 score behind consecutive kills by Meaghan Holmes.  Despite the large gap, SIU fought back with seven points in a row with Jessica Whitehead tallying a pair of kills.  Two SIU errors saw UE take a 21-18 edge, but Southern Illinois continued to fight, scoring seven of the final eight points to take a 25-22 win.
 
Both squads put up a fight early in game two before another Holmes kill led to a 9-9 score.  That is where the Salukis took over, scoring four out of the next five points before posting a 5-0 rally to take an 18-11 advantage.  Three quick kills by UE made it a 4-point deficit, but a pair of late kills by Whitehead made the difference in a 25-18 win.
 
In the third frame, it was all Salukis.  The Aces took an early 4-3 lead, but SIU posted the next six in a row and 10 of the next 11 tallies overall.  Taylor Pippen had a pair of kills for SIU.  Evansville showed its fight, closing the lead to just four points at 17-13 as Rachel TenHoor led the offense in the stretch, but SIU had the hot hand late, taking the 25-16 win and the match.
 
The regular season comes to an end next weekend, beginning with a match against Indiana State on Friday evening.  Evansville finishes up the 2013 campaign versus Illinois State on Saturday.