EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Freshman Brooke Herdes recorded 16 kills but a 24-kill performance by Ashby Willis helped USI take a 3-1 victory over the University of Evansville volleyball team on Thursday inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

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Box Score

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Hinsley Everett added 12 points for the Purple Aces while Chloe Cline finished with 11. Kora Ruff paced the team with 29 assists while Ainoah Cruz recorded 21 digs.
 
Game 1 – USI 25, UE 20
After USI opened the match with the early 5-3 lead, Chloe Cline brought the Aces back with consecutive kills to make it a 6-5 game. Cline and McKenzie Laubach assisted on a block that gave UE its largest lead at 12-9. The Screaming Eagles rallied to tie the score at 14-14 before Brooke Herdes' second kill of the night saw UE retake the lead.  USI continued to battle back as they retook the lead at 21-19 before winning by a final of 25-20
 
Game 2 – USI 25, UE 22
Kora Ruff opened the set with consecutive aces as Evansville took a 3-0 lead. Cline added a kill shortly after to push the advantage to 8-4. Just as they had in the opening game, the Screaming Eagles rallied. After tying the score at 10-10, they took their first lead of the set at 12-11. The lead reached as many as seven points at 24-20 before the Aces made a late push scoring five in a row. Maddie Hawkins registered an ace before Ryan Scheu and Sabrina Ripple assisted on a block to cut the deficit to just a pair. The rally came up just short when an error ended the set and gave USI a 2-0 lead.
 
Game 3 – UE 25, USI 23
USI scored three of the first four points to take the early lead while UE would fight back to tie the score at 8-8 on a kill from Ripple. Laubach helped the Aces go up by a 14-12 margin with a kill but the Screaming Eagles continued to fight back as they quickly tied the score at 14-14 before wrestling away a 20-18 edge.
 
Evansville made a late rally as a kill by Kora Ruff tied the game at 22-22 before Ryan Scheu had the winning kill to send the match to the fourth set.
 
Game 4 – USI 25, UE 20
Early kills by Scheu and Herdes set the Aces up with a 3-2 lead before the Screaming Eagles stormed back to go up 8-4 before extending the advantage to 11-6. Ripple and Hinsley Everett combined on a block while Ruff added an ace to cut the margin to 11-10. Just as they had throughout the match, USI had the answer, regaining a 17-14 lead. They would go on to clinch the match with a 25-20 decision.
 
On Saturday the squads will meet up at Liberty Arena for a 4 p.m. match.