Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Junior Ashley Ring led all players with 18 kills, but it was Indiana State coming away with the 3-2 victory over the University of Evansville volleyball team on Friday evening at the Carson Center.
 
Ring led UE (9-19, 4-13 MVC) with her total while Rachel TenHoor and Emma Roberson posted 13 kills apiece.  Lauren Seyller finished the night with ten.  Katie Klages led the Aces with 25 digs while Jenn Murphy posted 49 assists.  Morgan Dall was the top offensive player for Indiana State (13-16, 6-11 MVC), tallying 16 kills.
 
TenHoor got the Aces going in the right direction to open the night, posting three kills as UE opened up with a 5-2 advantage that eventually led to an 8-3 score.  Evansville's lead held tough at five points, but with the score at 15-10, the Sycamores made their first run of the game, scoring three in a row, including a Loni Mackinson service ace.  Their rally kept up as they tied the match for the first time at 16-16 before going up by an 18-17 score on a UE error.
 
Evansville kept up the intensity with four tallies in a row as sophomore Emma Roberson tallied a pair of kills to put Evansville up 22-18.  The game-changing run began on a UE service error as ISU posted six points in a row to go up 24-22.  The Aces committed three errors in the run.  Roberson gave UE hope with her fourth kill of the frame before Cassandra Willis finished off the set with a kill.
 
After giving up the lead in the first set, the Purple Aces refused to let the same thing happen in the next game.  Behind a Meaghan Holmes kill, UE jumped out to a 5-2 edge.  Indiana State fought back to tie it up at 6-6 for the first time, but with the score knotted at 7-7, Evansville reeled off five in a row before holding on for the win.
 
That win did not come as easy as it sounds as the Sycamores made another furious rally late in the set.  A Bree Spengler kill just about erased what was a 6-point deficit for ISU as they closed within one at 22-21.  Lauren Seyller was pivotal down the stretch as her late kills, followed by one from Jenn Murphy finished off a 25-22 win.
 
Each point was tied in set three, leading to a 6-6 score.  Indiana State wrestled the lead in their favor as two UE errors gave them an 8-6 advantage.  They continued to pad their lead, going up by a 14-9 score before the Aces reeled off three in a row with a Holmes kill.  Indiana State regained their edge, going up 21-16 on an Evansville error.
 
It was that point where the Aces changed the course of the set, scoring four in a row as Ashley Ring posted a kill.  After an ISU tally, the Evansville charge continued.  Two Roberson kills put UE in position for the win, up 24-23, but the Sycamores fought back.  Both teams fought to the end, but it was Indiana State putting up the final two points to take a 30-28 win.  Shannon Murphy, making her first appearance of the night for ISU, capped off the game with an ace.
 
The Aces put their defeat in the third set behind them and came out firing in the fourth as Ring served her way to a pair of aces as UE reeled off the opening four points.  The Aces kept rolling as they jumped out to a 12-3 advantage. The Sycamores cut the gap 12-7 but the Aces would have none of it, going up 20-11 before cruising to the 25-15.
 
Just as UE recovered from a tough loss, the Sycamores did just that at the beginning of the fifth set, jumping out to a 4-1 advantage.  That lead grew to 8-3 as four different ISU players recorded kills.  Evansville held strong as they cut the gap to three points at 9-6 on Seyller's tenth kill of the evening.  That Sycamores overcame the stretch to take the match with a 15-11 win.
 
Tomorrow evening, the Aces complete the season with a 6 p.m. match against Illinois State.