EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Another solid outing by the Indiana State Volleyball offense helped lead it to a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-21, 25-21) and series sweep of Evansville on Saturday night at Carson Center. ISU improves to 15-8 overall and 7-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
Sophomore outside hitter Bree Spangler was consistent yet again for the Sycamores, recording her 10th double-double on 14 kills and 12 digs in the win. Junior middle blocker Cassandra Willis added a .529 hitting percentage with 11 kills (11-2-17) as Indiana State swept the Purple Aces for the second-straight year.
“We were much better offensively tonight than we were last night,” ISU head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner said. “We had three players with double-digit kills, which is what we need to see if we want to keep up with the top teams in this league.”
As a team, ISU hit .337 behind Spangler and Willis to go along with freshman outside hitter Sarah Peterson's 10 kills on the night. Junior setter Erika Nord dished out 40 assists to accompany three service aces while sophomore defensive specialist Shannon Murphy contributed two aces.
Nord and Murphy's combined five service aces helped ISU tally seven on the night as it recorded no service errors in the match. In addition, they out-dug (45-20) and out-assisted (47-38) the Purple Aces.
Sophomore middle blocker Kynedi Nalls added eight kills and senior middle blocker Kyla Thomas added five to go along with two blocks. Freshman libero Danielle Waedekin posted 11 digs while freshman defensive specialist Stephanie Bindernagel contributed eight.
“We still had 16 hitting errors tonight which we need to limit,” Dahl-Skinner said. “But the team knew the importance of tonight's match in the overall picture of getting to the conference tournament.”
Playing a tight opening set, three straight points helped the Sycamores take a 18-16 lead, which included a Bindernagel ace, and forced a UE timeout.
But the Purple Aces came out with back-to-back points to tie things up again at 18-18. Thomas broke up another tie at 20-20 with a kill and capitalized on an over pass to regain a two point lead.
An Evansville hitting error and ace by Spangler sealed the 25-20 set one victory. The Sycamores hit .419 in the opening set, marked by seven kills from Spangler.
Tied up at 13-13, a Peterson kill along with two Purple Ace attack errors helped Indiana State take a lead for good in the second set. Indiana State led 21-16 before the Purple Aces went on a 5-1 run to come within one, 21-20.
The Sycamore offense kicked into gear, with a kill from Spangler, ace from Nord and kill by Nalls ended the set in a 25-21 win.
A six point deficit hindered ISU halfway through the third set, but three straight points forced UE to use a timeout. Again the home team tacked on a four point lead but Willis kept the Sycamores in it with a kill as they trailed by just one, 18-19.
A no look dump by Nord and kill by Spangler tied it up at 20-20. A big block from Thomas pushed the Sycamores to a 23-21 lead and kills from Peterson and Nalls sealed the sweep.
Indiana State returns to the court on Halloween as it travels to Illinois State for a 7 p.m. matchup in Redbird Arena.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Volleyball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
