EVANSVILLE, IND. ? The Indiana State volleyball team dropped their sixth straight match of the season Saturday night, falling to the Evansville Purple Aces 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-19) in a Missouri Valley Conference match.
The loss drops the Sycamores to 4-8 overall and 0-2 in the Missouri Valley. Indiana State will step out of the conference on Tuesday when they visit Chicago State for an 8 p.m. (ET) match. The loss was the 30th straight road loss in the Missouri Valley for the Sycamores and their 33rd straight loss in the Valley overall.
Then it is back to the friendly confines of the ISU Arena where the Sycamores will open their home Missouri Valley Conference campaign next weekend. Indiana State will host Bradley at 7 p.m. (ET) on Friday and then entertain Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. (ET) on Saturday.
For the second straight match, junior Jodi Stoker was the only Sycamore in double figures in kills, getting 10 against the Purple Aces. Junior Whitney Fromm had 14 set assists and freshman Shelbi Fouty 13 while senior Kristy Cox had 19 digs and Stoker 11.
Indiana State stayed with the Purple Aces in the first set with 11 ties and six lead changes. The lead see-sawed back and forth through the first half of the set until Evansville broke a 13-all tie with three straight points.
The Sycamores trailed by four points on several occasions late in the match but fought back, getting back to within one, 21-20, on three straight Indiana State points. After Evansville added a point on a Sally Kalupka kill, Stoker moved the Sycamores back to within one with a kill. However, Evansville scored the final two points of the set to post the win.
The second set was all Evansville as the Purple Aces took control early and cruised to a 25-12 win.
After the break, the Sycamores came out and scored the first point of the third set on a Stoker kill. Evansville scored the next five points and looked like they would run away with the set, and the match, but Indiana State fought back tying the match at 13 on a kill by junior Kelli Whitaker.
The Sycamores went up 15-13 on an Evansville attack error and a service ace by Stoker but that lead did not last long. The Purple Aces scored four straight to take a 17-15 lead and outscored Indiana State 8-4 the rest of the set to take the win.
