Indiana State (12-13, 4-10 MVC) won a Valley road game for the first time this season in impressive fashion and broke an 18-game road losing streak in Missouri Valley games in the process. It was also the first time that ISU has swept Evansville in a single season since 2003 which was also the last time that the Sycamores won in Evansville.

Qualizza recorded the second highest single game hitting percentage in school history as she led the Sycamores to the win, knocking down 23 kills with no errors on 31 attempts for a career high .742 hitting percentage. Only Julie Meshberger had a better single game hitting percentage as she recorded a .786 hitting percentage against Tennessee-Martin on Sept. 1, 1995.

Although Qualizza was the key she had support from sophomore Molly Murphy with eight kills, freshman Samantha Kersting with five, and senior Shelbi Fouty, sophomore Monique Morris, and junior Shea Doran with three each. Fouty had 34 assists in the contest while senior Kiya James led the defense with 15 digs. Qualizza also had five blocks with Kersting and Murphy each recording four, and Morris three.

Indiana State was the only school involved in the chase for the sixth and final Valley post-season tournament berth to win as Southern Illinois lost at home to Illinois State 3-1 (25-22, 28-26, 23-25, 25-20) and Drake lost at home to Missouri State 3-1 (25-20, 29-27, 24-26, 25-19). Drake still holds the sixth spot with a 5-9 league record while Indiana State is just a game back at 4-10. Southern Illinois and Evansville are both 3-10.

Indiana State took the early lead in the opening set but the Purple Aces fought back to knot the score at five and again at six. Murphy broke the final tie of the set with an ace and after a Morris kill the Sycamores had the lead for good at 9-6. Evansville stayed close and got back to within one on several occasions but Indiana State would not led the Purple Aces draw even. A block by Murphy and Kersting sealed the opening set win at 25-20.

The second set was a lot tighter with seven ties and five lead changes. Evansville had their last lead of the set at 19-18 before Qualizza knocked down two straight to put ISU back on top 20-19. The Sycamores kept the advantage and pulled out to a 24-21 lead after kills by Murphy and Fouty. Murphy added another kill to seal ISU's 25-22 set win and give the Sycamores a 2-0 set lead in the game.

The third set was also closely contested with seven ties and two lead changes but both of those changes came early on. Evansville maintained the early advantage until Qualizza knocked down two straight kills to put ISU on top 7-6. The Purple Aces tied the set for the final time at seen with Qualizza recording two more kills to move Indiana State out to a 9-7 lead. The Sycamores began to slowly pull away as the set continued with, fittingly enough, Qualizza recording the winning point on a kill off a set by Fouty for a 25-17 ISU set win and a 3-0 Sycamore victory.

Indiana State has now won three straight over the Purple Aces and has a two-game winning streak this season. The Sycamores face another tough test Saturday when they travel to meet the home standing Southern Illinois Salukis in an 8 p.m. (ET) start.

Qualizza had seven kills in eight attempts with no errors in the opening set (.875), nine kills in 11 attempts with no errors in the second set (.818), and seven kills in 12 attempts with no errors (.583) in the third set.

In other Valley action Friday, Northern Iowa swept Bradley 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-20) while Creighton won a thrilling five-set victory at home over Wichita State 19-25, 25-23, 13-25, 25-23, 15-10.

Besides Indiana State visiting Southern Illinois on Saturday, Illinois State visits Evansville, Drake hosts Wichita State, and Missouri State goes to Creighton.