 UE at Indiana State; home vs. Illinois State
 Missouri Valley Conference play starts this weekend for the University of Evansville volleyball team as it opens on Friday at Indiana State before coming home on Monday to face Illinois State at Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
UE (6-6) played its final weekend of non-conference play took place last weekend as the Purple Aces took part in the Ball State/Butler Tournament. Evansville dropped matches against BSU and Butler by 3-0 finals while taking Duquesne to five sets before falling, 3-2.
Adeline Payne earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team as she posted her best weekend of play at the Ball State/Butler Tournament. In her first eight matches at UE, Payne nine kills. In three matches over the weekend, she notched a total of 29. Payne set her career mark with eight at Ball State, hitting .231 in the game. Against Butler, Payne had six kills, but added her first career service ace along with a career-best four digs. She had the best match of her career versus Duquesne, totaling 15 kills while hitting .262 in the 5-set match.
Conference play begins this weekend as the Aces open the MVC schedule at Indiana State before coming home next Monday to face Illinois State. The Aces are looking to open league play with a victory for the first time since 2011. That year, Evansville swept past Bradley in its Valley opener by a 30- final.
For the third time this season, the Purple Aces recorded double-digit service aces, totaling 10 against Duquesne. Rachel Tam set her career mark with six to lead the team while Taylor Jones added three of her own. MVC squads have had just five matches this season where they have registered 10 or more kills; UE has accounted for three of them including 14 versus Morgan State and 13 against Arkansas Pine Bluff.
Indiana State has struggled to a 2-10 start to the season. The Sycamores opened the year with a 3-0 win over DePaul and earned their second win of the year on Sept. 15 versus Cal State-Fullerton. Four of their ten losses have come in five sets. They are led by Laura Gross, who averages 3.52 kills per set. That tally ranks 6th in the league.
Monday’s home conference opener will see Illinois State come to Meeks Family Fieldhouse. The Redbirds enter the weekend with a 7-6 record and will play a pair of MVC matches before heading to Evansville. On Friday, they face Missouri State before welcoming Southern Illinois on Saturday. Last weekend, they won the Wildcat Classic in Tucson, Ariz. as they defeated New Mexico State, William and Mary and Arizona. Jaelyn Keene is fourth in the Valley with 3.63 kills per set.
