KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
EVANSVILLE, IND. ? The Sycamore volleyball team could not pick up a win on the road on Saturday, falling to the Evansville Purple Aces 3-0 (25-27, 17-25, 20-25) in a Missouri Valley Conference game. The loss drops ISU to 8-12 on the year and 0-6 in the Valley.
Sophomore Morgan Dall and junior Stacy Qualizza had 11 kills each for Indiana State with senior Ana Maira Charun knocking down 10. Junior Shelbi Fouty had 32 assists in the contest while Kiya James had 10 digs.
The opening set was pivotal to the Sycamores with 11 ties and five lead changes. Indiana State had their biggest lead of the set at 13-8 after a Qualizza kill but the Sycamores could not hold onto the advantage. Evansville rallied to tie the set at 13 and eventually took a 16-15 lead. ISU rallied with three straight points on kills by Charun and freshman Monique Morris along with a block by Charun to regain the lead at 18-16.
Evansville came back and used a three point run to go up 20-18. Indiana State rallied with their own three point run on kills by Charun, Morris, and Qualizza. The lead continued to go back and forth between the two schools until the Purple Aces reached set point at 24-23. However, a kill by Qualizza that tied the score at 24 kept the set going as did a block by Dall and sophomore Auriel Armstrong that tied the set for the final time at 25. Evansville scored the final two points of the set to earn the 27-25 victory.
The Purple Aces took control early in the second set, rolling 10-2 advantage early and held off the Sycamores for a 25-17 win. Indiana State came out of the intermission to score the first two points of the third set but Evansville came back with four straight points to take the lead for good. ISU stayed close but was never able to draw back even with UE and lost the third set 25-20.
Indiana State had 39 kills on 120 attacks with just 14 errors for a .208 hitting percentage while the Purple Aces had 49 kills on 119 attacks with just 18 errors for a .261 hitting percentage.
Indiana State will be back in action next weekend as they will host the University of Northern Iowa on Friday and Bradley University on Saturday. Both games begin at 7 p.m. (ET) in the ISU Arena.
